Colorado’s transparency at issue with how it’s paying for Deion Sanders and his players

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The University of Colorado Boulder made huge new investments in its athletics program for fiscal year 2026, including a new $10 million-per-year contract for football coach Deion Sanders and a plan to provide up $20.5 million annually in new benefits for players.So where is the money coming from to pay for that?Fiscal year 2026 started on July 1, 2025. But the university wouldn’t say exactly where the revenues are coming from to pay for those new commitments, leading to skepticism from observers and general concerns about transparency from the office of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.“The Governor is concerned about transparency, and would encourage the (state) General Assembly to review the law and expand transparency,” the governor’s office said when asked about the lack of budget records provided from CU Boulder.CU Boulder said it didn’t have budget records to provideUSA TODAY Sports submitted several public-records requests to the university since May asking for estimated budget projections in revenues and expenses for fiscal 2026. In response, the university said there were no records responsive to those requests under the Colorado Public Records Act (CORA).Ultimately, the university produced a document in September that showed estimated expenses for fiscal 2026 were going up by about $24 million.It did not provide details about the revenues needed to pay for those new expenses. Instead, the university produced a blank revenue page that said “TBD,” meaning “to be determined.” A university spokesman also provided a statement that said the fiscal 2026 budget is “in development and is not finalized.” It said the athletics department was focused on revenue generation from a variety of sources.But some questioned whether it was plausible for the athletics department not to have written budget estimates for fiscal 2026, especially since fiscal 2026 is already in its second quarter.“At this point, who’s running a $100-million budget without it written down?” said Jack Kroll, a former member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. “I think that’s laughable, and if it is true, it’s something we all should raise an eyebrow at.”Transparency a general concern with Colorado governorKroll voted against Sanders’ initial Colorado contract in 2022 when it was $5.5 million for Sanders’ first year. Nearly three years later, Colorado and other schools face a big new expense of up to $20.5 million annually in player benefits under the landmark House-vs.-NCAA legal settlement, including payments for players' names, images and likenesses (NIL).Other schools have publicly discussed in detail how they are coming up with the money for this expense.In Colorado earlier this year, Gov. Polis signed a bill that supported NIL payments for college athletes in the state, but he did so with reservations because the same bill exempted certain related records from public viewing. NIL contracts between college athletes and Colorado universities would be kept private, according to the new law.“It follows an unfortunate trend of legislative proposals that ultimately impede access to official records that are arguably within the public’s interest to view,” Polis said in a signing statement in March. “These exceptions move transparency in the wrong direction, and any other proposals that further prevent or delay public access to information will be carefully reviewed.”‘Completely implausible’?The issue over CU Boulder’s budget records is separate from that bill’s public-records exemption. In fact, CU Boulder claimed no exemption from CORA request regarding the budget records. It just said it had no budget records responsive to these requests, which outside observers considered to be odd.“It is of course completely implausible that they have not considered their budget for FY25-26 in great detail,” said Roger Pielke, an emeritus professor at Colorado who previously taught sports governance in the CU athletics department. “The information provided to you is embarrassingly not transparent for a public university, and gives the impression of trying to hide budget details. If the investment in football is so valuable to the university, then the campus should proudly share its fiscal realities.”CU Boulder’s athletics department said in a statement it would release the information at a later date.“CU Athletics is committed to transparency and will release our budget information as soon as it is available, in accordance with Colorado state law,” the statement said.Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com