Ever wonder how we know what your favorite college coach really makes, or how much a school spends to keep its football team fed?

It all starts with public records.

This issue kicks off a new series of “evergreen explainers” that lay out how NILnomics works behind the scenes. Think of it as your guidebook to the data that powers everything we publish.

So grab a drink, get comfortable, and let’s dig in. 🍺

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NILnomics: How I Get the Data 📊 

If you’ve been reading NILnomics, you know we dig into the numbers behind college sports — revenue, expenses, contracts, and how NIL fits into the mix. But where do those numbers actually come from?

The short answer: public records.

Because so many athletic departments are housed in public universities, they are subject to state public records laws. That means anyone — at least in theory — can request and receive official documents, including annual financial reports. These reports are the backbone of almost everything you see in NILnomics.

But “in theory” doesn’t always line up with reality.

What Is a Public Records Request? 📩 

A public records request (sometimes called a FOIA request) is a formal ask to a government agency for documents it already holds. These can include emails, contracts, budgets, invoices, and — often in our case — athletic department financial reports.

In most states, anyone can file a request. A few states, however, restrict access in some fashion. Here are the main hurdles that come up when trying to access this data:

• Residency restrictions: a handful of states only allow residents to file records requests. That means if you want documents from schools in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Kentucky, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or Tennessee you have to prove you live there. Outsiders are shut out.

  

• Fees: many schools charge around 10–20 cents per page. That may sound small, but when one financial report runs 80+ pages and you’re collecting multiple years/schools, it adds up quickly. Some schools — looking at you, University of Arizona — charge fees that are completely out of proportion.

• Legal loopholes: some universities avoid transparency by funneling athletics through separate entities that aren’t covered by state law. Central Florida and Kentucky are well-known examples. I suspect more schools will follow this playbook.

• Time: Some schools respond in a few days. Others take weeks or even months. In some cases, the process can drag out over a year. The University of Albany took nearly a year to get me a few game guarantee contracts once - other schools took a day to produce the same document. You never know what request will get delayed.

Building a Public Records Library 📖 

These obstacles haven’t stopped me. Over the past few years, I’ve created a database sharing how to request documents from every public school’s athletic department. Some schools make it simple — just fill out a form or send an email to the right office. Others, not so much. You can find either the email address to contact for public records or online forms that schools require to get public records here.

NILnomics now has a growing library of documents that cover hundreds of athletic departments over multiple years. The documents include:

• NCAA financial reporting forms

• Vendor and sponsorship contracts

• Coaching and staff contracts

• Other budget and compliance records

• Athletics funded studies

Not every school is represented. Private universities — Notre Dame, Stanford, USC, and others — aren’t subject to state open records laws. That means their financial details stay behind closed doors.

Why It Matters

The reports I’ve gathered through these requests are the raw material for everything NILnomics produces. They show how much money schools bring in, how they spend it, where subsidies come from, and how NIL fits into the financial landscape. As schools push to shield their numbers, these reports may soon be harder to get — which makes this work more urgent than ever

And more broadly: access to public records is under pressure. Universities and state legislatures are increasingly looking for ways to limit transparency. That makes this work — and your attention — all the more important right now.

I’ll keep filing requests, adding documents to the NILnomics database, and using them to tell stories about the economics of college sports.

Starting next week you’ll start seeing some analysis on coaching contracts. Look out for that.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading.

I think it’s important to have a few explainers like this out there to help new readers get up to speed on the college athletics space as well as (for me) to have to reference in newsletter issues. Look for future issues to break down the annual MFRS financial reports, coaching contracts, pouring rights, and other knee-deep issues in college athletics.

Thanks again for your time. Now finish your beverage 😀 

Until next time,

Greg Chick, PhD

Data Analyst

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⌨️ R code is available at my GitHub here.