Without nationwide rules, South Carolina lawmakers move to keep college athlete payments secret

COLUMBIA, S.C. — One by one, South Carolina senators stood up at the Statehouse this week, saying they didn't want to wade into the rules about paying college athletes, but they couldn't bear to see their Gamecocks or Tigers left behind on the field or the court.

South Carolina is poised to join at least four other states in keeping secret the amount of money given to athletic teams and players after the Senate initially approved a bill Tuesday. The House approved the proposal last month with just two ''no'' votes.

Nearly every senator who spoke wished the NCAA, which oversees college athletics, would implement rules on what Name, Image and Likeness payments can be revealed or kept secret, rein in the transfer portal where athletes can switch schools yearly, or just do something to stop the extreme changes in the sports they've loved all their lives.

''I think we have taken a wrecking ball to college sports. I played two sports, and I think it's been a horrible radical change,'' said Republican Sen. Chip Campsen, a 165-pound (75-kilogram) defensive back on The Citadel's 1978 football team whose best pole vault remains among the top 10 in the school's record book.

But those who voted for the bill said if they did nothing before the General Assembly's 2026 session ended in May, it could lead to a disaster worse than in 2025 when playoff hopes turned into a 4-8 season at South Carolina or a 7-6 finish at Clemson.

Supporters said if other schools knew exactly what athletes were getting paid, they could make higher offers and lure away most of the roster. Even if the only information released is the amount spent on each team, opponents could extrapolate payrolls or create dissension over how much different teams get.

''We are going to be putting our schools and our athletic programs at a competitive disadvantage. I get it. I don't have to like it,'' Democratic state Sen. Russell Ott said.

Senators have called a hearing next week to ask for more information from athletic directors about whether state money goes into athletic programs before a final vote that could send the bill on to the governor.

Action prompted by lawsuit

A lawsuit prompted South Carolina to deal with the issue more quickly than other states. An open government advocate sued the University of South Carolina in September after the school refused to release payment details under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Professional leagues like the NFL and NBA release salary information. But the secrecy at the college level keeps athletes from making informed decisions about their futures and means the more than $20 million the NCAA lets each school spend on athletes will go without any checks and balances, said Frank Heindel, who filed the suit.

''Under this bill, the public would not know whether football receives $18 million while women's sports receive $500,000, or whether one position group is paid dramatically more than another. We are asked to simply trust that public money is being distributed fairly, without any ability to verify it,'' Heindel wrote in a statement to senators.

Schools say athletes' privacy at risk

Republican Sen. Tom Young shepherded the bill through the chamber. He warned senators a wise lawmaker long ago reminded him the quickest way to anger people is to mess with their recreation, or as his old friend put it, ''fins, fur, feathers and football.''

With a compressed time frame, coaches didn't come to lobby this time. That was left to letters from athletic directors who wrote that the agreements include ''highly sensitive personal and financial information.''

''Subjecting these agreements to public disclosure would raise serious privacy concerns for our student-athletes, potentially exposing them to undue public scrutiny and creating risks well beyond the playing field,'' Clemson athletics director Graham Neff wrote.

Heindel said he's fine with redacting any personal information.

The secrecy also prevents athletes from knowing their true market value — maybe running backs are making more at one school or in one conference. It further encourages schools to skirt rules as they did decades ago when someone might get a car or a $500 handshake under the table, said Patrick Rishe, the director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis.

''The competition for top talent is so ruthless that universities and boosters want some degree of lawlessness,'' Rishe said.

State legislatures will keep pushing their noses into college sports and disputes will be solved in courts until the NCAA can get the U.S. Congress to act and create uniform standards, Rishe said.

In the meantime, lawmakers like Republican South Carolina Sen. Michael Johnson, with his Auburn sticker on the back windshield of his truck, said it will be up to legislatures to protect their home state teams.