Revenue Sharing in College Sports, Explained

The short version

For most of college sports' history, a school could not pay its athletes to play. It could offer a scholarship, and little else. The House v. NCAAsettlement changed that. Beginning July 1, 2025, schools that opt in can pay their athletes directly out of athletic-department revenue—a system known as revenue sharing.

The amount is capped. For the 2025-26 school year the cap was about $20.5 million per school; for 2026-27 it rises to roughly $21.3 million, and it is built to climb for the life of the settlement. This guide explains where that money comes from, how schools divide it, and how it fits alongside the other ways an athlete earns.

Revenue sharing is one piece of a larger picture. For the full map of how athletes get paid—scholarships, outside endorsements, academic awards, and more—see our companion guide, How College Athletes Get Paid.

What revenue sharing actually is

Revenue sharing is money paid by the school itself. That is what sets it apart from the other dollars in college sports. A scholarship covers the cost of attending—tuition, fees, room, and board. An NIL deal is money from an outside company for the use of an athlete's name, image, and likeness. Revenue sharing is neither: it is a direct payment from the athletic department to the athlete, separate from any scholarship and separate from any outside deal.

One distinction matters more than any other, because it is the one people most often get wrong. Revenue sharing does not run through the NIL clearinghouse.The clearinghouse—the system that reviews outside NIL deals worth $600 or more—applies only to third-party money from companies and collectives. Direct school payments are reported through a separate system (known as CAPS) built for that purpose. We cover the clearinghouse, and how it vets outside deals, in a separate guide; for revenue sharing, the key point is that it sits outside that review entirely.

Where the cap comes from

The revenue-sharing cap is not an arbitrary figure. It is set at up to 22% of the average revenue that power-conference schools draw from three sources: media-rights deals, ticket sales, and sponsorships. As those revenues grow, so does the cap.

For 2025-26, the first year, the cap was about $20.5 million per school. For 2026-27 it rises to roughly $21.3 million, according to the College Sports Commission, the body created to administer the settlement. The cap is built to escalate by about 4% a year, a pace that would carry it toward roughly $33 million per school by the mid-2030s.

The settlement also has a backward-looking piece. It includes $2.8 billion in back pay for athletes who competed between 2016 and 2024 and were barred from earning NIL money at the time. Those payments are currently on hold while several appeals work through the courts; the forward-looking direct-payment system, however, took effect on schedule.

The timeline

The settlement received final approval on June 6, 2025, from U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken. Direct payments to athletes began on July 1, 2025. Participation is optional: the four power conferences—the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC—opted in, while the Ivy League opted out.

How schools divide it

The cap is a single pool, and within it each school decides how to allocate the money. In practice, the split is heavily weighted. At most major programs, football and men's basketball—the sports that generate the most revenue—receive the large majority of the revenue-sharing pool.

How that money should be divided between men's and women's sports is contested. In January 2025, federal guidance said school payments counted as financial aid and had to be distributed proportionally; one month later, in February 2025, that guidance was rescinded. Whether Title IX governs revenue sharing has not been settled, and the stakes are large precisely because the money is concentrated where it is.

For anyone trying to understand an individual athlete's earning power, that concentration is the heart of the matter: a starting quarterback and a reserve in a non-revenue sport are operating in two very different markets, even at the same school.

How it stacks—and roster limits

Revenue sharing does not replace the other income streams—it sits on top of them. The same athlete can hold a scholarship, collect direct revenue-sharing payments from the school, and sign outside NIL deals, all at once. For the highest-profile athletes, each of those pieces can be substantial on its own.

The settlement also changed the shape of rosters. The old limits on how many scholarships a team could award were replaced by roster limits—a cap on the total number of players. FBS football, for example, is now capped at 105. A school can give a full scholarship, a partial one, or none at all to anyone within that limit. The practical effect is that more players can receive some athletic aid than before, but the number of roster spots is fixed—which shapes both who makes the team and who is in line to be paid.

What it means for valuations

Direct pay has made an athlete's value both harder to pin down and more interesting to estimate. School revenue-sharing payments are generally not disclosed, and outside NIL terms are rarely public, so there is no official salary list to read. At the same time, far more money is now in play, and the question of what any given athlete is worth has never mattered more.

Estimating that value is what we do. Our Big Board ranks the players we value most across college football, our team pagesbreak down where each program's value is concentrated, and our methodologyexplains how we build every estimate. The figures we publish are independent estimates, not reported salaries—a distinction that matters more than ever now that real dollars are moving.

Common questions

Is revenue sharing the same as NIL?

No. Revenue sharing is money paid by the school; NIL is money paid by outside companies for the use of an athlete's name, image, and likeness. An athlete can receive both, and the two are governed by different rules—only third-party NIL deals run through the clearinghouse.

How much can a school pay?

Up to an annual cap: about $20.5 million per school in 2025-26 and roughly $21.3 million in 2026-27, rising about 4% a year thereafter. A school can divide that pool across its sports however it chooses.

When did revenue sharing start?

Direct payments began on July 1, 2025, after the House v. NCAA settlement received final approval on June 6, 2025.

Do all schools participate?

No. Revenue sharing is optional. The four power conferences opted in, while the Ivy League opted out. Most of the largest programs have committed to paying the full amount.