← Back to the libraryCollege and NIL

How much do college basketball programs spend on NIL and revenue sharing?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published October 17, 2026. Last updated October 17, 2026.

What is the official limit on college basketball spending?

The official number is a school-wide cap, not a basketball budget. Schools in the House settlement can pay athletes directly up to $21.58 million in 2026-27, up from $20.5 million in 2025-26, per an Associated Press report republished by La Nacion. Front Office Sports describes the 2025-26 figure as a limit per athletic department. The revenue sharing guide explains how the revenue-sharing cap works.

In the first year, 68 schools reached the cap or came within 5% of it, per the same report. The cap says how much a school may pay in total. It does not say how much goes to basketball.

How do schools split the cap between sports?

Each school chooses its own split. The best look at the pattern comes from two sources, and both are estimates.

A report from Opendorse, a platform used by 100 Division I programs, estimated that the average school in the top 10 FBS conferences would give men's basketball $4.3 million (20.9%) and women's basketball $1.6 million (8%) of the $20.5 million cap in 2025-26, per Front Office Sports. Football was estimated at 63.8%. The report is an estimate for an average school, not a count of actual payments.

A September 2025 survey of about 100 men's basketball coaches, speaking anonymously, asked what share of the cap should go to men's basketball, per CBS Sports. At schools with FBS football, 56% of coaches said 25% to 30% and 35% said 15% to 20%. At schools without FBS football, 29% said 90% to 95%. Applied to the $21.58 million cap, 25% to 30% works out to about $5.4 million to $6.5 million, and that arithmetic is this article's own.

What have programs actually reported spending?

Almost nothing is on the record, so every figure below is a reported estimate. Front Office Sports gathered the most specific ones in 2026, per Front Office Sports.

Only the St. John's figure is on the record, and it mixes NIL with revenue sharing. The rest come from people who asked not to be named, so a reader should treat each as a range with a margin of error.

Why do the estimates disagree?

Four things move the number depending on who is counting.

• What is counted. Some figures include only revenue sharing under the cap, and some add third-party NIL from collectives and boosters.
• Third-party deals. Front Office Sports reports that schools exceed the cap through third-party NIL deals, including deals with an associated entity. The NIL Go guide explains how those deals are reviewed, and the collectives guide explains who pays them.
• The season. A 2025-26 figure and a 2026-27 projection are different numbers.
• The source. An athletic director speaking on the record, an anonymous industry source and a rumor carry different weight.

Timing matters too. Schools used what Front Office Sports calls frontloading, signing and paying deals before the settlement rules took effect, to build 2025-26 rosters. The same report says frontloading will not be possible for next year's rosters, because the basketball transfer portal opens in April, nine months after the rules took effect. A 2025-26 figure may therefore overstate or understate what a program will spend in 2026-27.

Villanova athletic director Eric Roedl told Front Office Sports, "I'm not sure there's any cap right now. The cap is really what resources schools can develop to spend."

Could the limits change?

They could, if Congress acts. The Senate-passed Protect College Sports Act would let a school spend up to $22.5 million a year above the cap on athletes who have completed at least one season, and an additional $5 million that could be used for non-revenue sports, per the National Law Review. The bill has not passed the House, so the $21.58 million cap is the number in force. Budgets that look high today could look different if a retention fund becomes law.

What does a budget mean for one player?

Less than the headline suggests. A $10 million budget spread over a 15-player roster averages about $670,000 a player, and that arithmetic is this article's own. Programs may not divide it evenly.

Agents notice that a headline budget tells a player little, because the number in the player's own revenue-share agreement is the only one that pays him. The Opendorse and CBS figures describe schools, not individual players.

What should players and families do with these numbers?

• Ask each school for the player's figure in writing, not the program's budget.
• Ask whether the offer is revenue sharing, third-party NIL or both, since the first is capped and the second is reviewed separately.
• Check how many roster spots the program has open, using the roster limit guide.
• Compare each offer line by line with the offer comparison method.
• Plan for taxes on every dollar, using the NIL tax guide.

These ranges will move as schools report more. A player weighing a real offer should rely on the contract, and the school's compliance office can confirm what counts against the cap.