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How does revenue sharing work for college basketball players?

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

Published September 26, 2026. Last updated September 26, 2026.

Where did revenue sharing come from?

It came out of House v. NCAA, the antitrust settlement approved on June 6, 2025. The settlement includes nearly $2.8 billion in damages for current and former athletes and, for the next ten years, allows participating schools to share revenue directly with their athletes, according to the Congressional Research Service. Direct payments were allowed starting July 1, 2025.

The power conferences created the College Sports Commission to enforce the new rules. It oversees the revenue-sharing cap, roster rules and the review of outside NIL deals. It is a separate body from the NCAA.

How big is the cap?

Each year a school can distribute up to 22% of the average revenue that schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC earn from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. The College Sports Commission puts the 2026-27 cap at approximately $21.58 million per school, up from $20.5 million in the first year. The commission expects another 4% increase for 2027-28, and the cap is then re-evaluated every three years for the rest of the settlement.

Some outlets report $21.3 million for 2026-27. The commission's own figure is the one that governs compliance, so use it.

The cap is a ceiling, not a promise. A school can share less than the cap, and schools outside the settlement do not share revenue this way at all.

How much of it goes to basketball?

The settlement does not dictate the split. Each school decides how to divide its pool among sports and among athletes, and reporting to date suggests most of it goes to football and men's basketball, per the Congressional Research Service summary. Women's basketball players have raised concerns about how the pool is divided across sports, and those questions are still being argued.

For a basketball player, the practical point is simple: the number that matters is the one in your school's written revenue-share agreement, not the headline cap.

How is revenue sharing different from NIL?

• Revenue share comes from your school, under the cap, through a contract with the school.
• Third-party NIL comes from brands, businesses and collectives paying to use your name, image and likeness. It sits outside the cap.

Every Division I athlete, whether or not the school opted in to revenue sharing, must report third-party NIL deals with a total value of $600 or more, including deals that could reach $600 through royalties, bonuses or contingencies, per the College Sports Commission. Deals run through NIL Go, a portal built with Deloitte, which checks whether a deal serves a valid business purpose and falls within a reasonable range of compensation. A deal that looks like pay-for-play dressed up as an endorsement can be flagged.

What should you read in a revenue-share agreement?

• The payment schedule: how much, how often, and whether any part depends on roster status or playing time.
• What the school receives in return. Many agreements license your NIL to the school for group or institutional use. Know what you are granting and for how long.
• What happens if you enter the transfer portal or leave early for the pros, including any repayment language.
• How the school reports the payments for taxes. That answer changes what you owe. Here is how NIL and revenue-share money is taxed.
• Whether the agreement limits the outside NIL deals you can sign.

What to do this season

Get the revenue-share agreement in writing before you rely on the money. Log every outside deal as you sign it so nothing crosses $600 unreported. Keep a separate account for taxes. If you are weighing college money against a pro path, compare it with what a first-year pro actually earns: the NBA rookie scale, a two-way contract, the new WNBA rookie scale, or a first overseas deal.