Despite a new state law protecting such information, team-specific payout details for four UL System sports programs were accidentally included in documents posted online for last month’s University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors meeting.
At UL, the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball program spent more on public NIL and revenue sharing than football during the 2025-26 school year.
According to Board of Regents documents, UL men’s basketball had $647,500 in public NIL/revenue sharing expenses during the first year under coach Quannas White.
During the same year, the football program totaled $591,895, while baseball totaled $120,600.
No actual figures were listed for other men’s sports, but the total for all women’s sports was $157,354.
The figures to be approved for 2026-27 are budgeted amounts. This time, football leads in public NIL/revenue sharing expenses at $750,000, followed by men’s basketball at $701,700. Baseball is budgeted at $50,000, while all women’s sports combined are budgeted at $200,000.
The other schools in the Louisiana System are Nicholls State, McNeese State, Louisiana Tech, Southeastern, Grambling State and ULM.
McNeese, Nicholls and ULM did not report any public funding for NIL or revenue sharing.
Louisiana Tech did not report any public NIL spending for 2025-26. However, the school’s budget for the 2026-27 period includes $1.2 million for football, $498,991 for men’s basketball and $200,000 for baseball. All women’s sports combined are budgeted at $86,000.
The report only included football for Nicholls, at $81,000 for 2025-26.
Northwestern State spent $123,486 on football in 2025-26 and $244,000 on men’s basketball. All women’s sports totaled $50,843. Northwestern State’s 2026-27 budgeted totals are $300,000 for football and $350,000 for men’s basketball.
Grambling’s NIL and revenue-sharing numbers were not broken down by sport. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, it spent $426,685.64 and budgeted $460,000 for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Brandon DeCuir, an attorney who represents the UL System, told the Louisiana Illuminator the information was disclosed in error.
Louisiana lawmakers earlier this year passed a bill by Rep. Tehmi Chassion, D-Lafayette, that allows universities to shield how much they pay to individual athletes and each athletic team from public view. The law says only the total spent on all teams must be disclosed.
The law applies to athletic departments’ self-generated revenue, which Division I schools are allowed to use to pay players for their name, image and likeness. It is separate from private NIL deals athletes make with sponsors.
Louisiana law treats all self-generated revenue from state college campuses and other agencies as public money that requires legislative approval for how it is spent.