Wisconsin Badger fans are known to be some of the most passionate in the Big 10. Now they have another reason to be vocal for their favorite teams: Their tax dollars are paying for it.
“Gov. Tony Evers signed legislation that will provide $14.6 million in taxpayer funding for the UW athletic department, along with codifying many existing NIL practices,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. It came with a partial veto to tweak some of the precise language regarding the funding.
“The partial veto removes what Evers described in his official letter to the Assembly as ‘potential confusion created by referring to ‘maintenance’ in the funding that is intended to alleviate facility debt service. He said that ‘greater flexibility is necessary to ensure this funding can be used effectively and allow the system to maximize the state’s investment.”
While the overwhelming majority of the funds will be dedicated to UW-Madison, the athletic departments of UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay will each receive $200,000.
“This support is critical as UW-Madison navigates an increasingly uncertain college sports landscape while maintaining our unwavering commitment to competitive excellence, education, and broad-based opportunities,” UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in a statement via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
UW’s Athletic Director, Chris McIntosh, previously suggested that not-so-fan-friendly options would have been on the table if the legislation had not passed.
“In the absence of this legislation, we will be at a point in which everything is on the table in terms of increasing revenues and reducing expenses,” McIntosh said in March.
While McIntosh clearly sensed the pressing need for the bill, and the state assembly did as well, the bill passed by a 95-1 vote. The Senate remained less convinced, as they passed the measure only by a vote of 17-16, with Republicans and Democrats in dissent.
The bill could become part of a trend as struggling athletic departments seek to offset funding shortfalls to compete with schools with higher NIL budgets. Even if most states don’t pass similar laws, the issue is bound to come up for debate. In March, the Mississippi state senate defeated a proposal to exempt NIL payments from state taxation by the same margin (17-16) that the Wisconsin senate passed the state funding bill.
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