College Athletes Earned $1.77B from Schools in 2025-26, Additional $500M+ in NIL Contracts
Bleacher Report • • sports
Key Points:
- In the first year of revenue sharing in college sports, athletes received over $1.77 billion in payments, with 46,478 third-party NIL deals totaling more than $582 million also reported since last June.
- Among 319 Division I schools participating in revenue sharing, 307 schools across 33 conferences paid 34,915 athletes in 45 sports, with most funds going to football and basketball players.
- Schools reported over $42 million in academic benefits and $163 million in new scholarship spending, with a $20.5 million cap on direct payments per school under the House v. NCAA settlement starting in the 2025-26 season.
- The Senate recently passed the "Protect College Sports Act," which would double the revenue-sharing cap to about $48 million annually, pending approval from the House of Representatives.
- Despite high spending by programs like Ohio State, Oregon, LSU, and Texas A&M, early season results show that larger budgets do not guarantee on-field success.
