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College athletes got $1.77 billion from schools in 2025-26, and basketball families should ask where it went: my take

Opinion The author's own takes, written in his voice. The facts behind them are cited and linked.

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

Published October 20, 2026. Last updated October 20, 2026.

This is an opinion post, and the takes are mine. The facts they rest on are cited. The rules behind the numbers are in the college basketball revenue sharing guide.

What did schools pay college athletes in the first revenue-sharing year?

Athletes received more than $1.77 billion in revenue-sharing payments in 2025-26, per Bleacher Report. The money came from 307 schools to 34,915 athletes across 45 sports. Third-party NIL is a separate pool: 46,478 deals worth more than $582 million were approved through NIL Go. Bleacher Report's headline calls that pool "$500M+," which understates its own figure.

What does the total leave out about basketball?

It does not say how the money was spent. Bleacher Report notes the commission's data gives no breakdown, and says only that the majority went to football and basketball players, without a number. One public estimate comes from Opendorse, published in November 2025 and not a full-year count: the average school in the top 10 FBS conferences would pay $4.3 million to men's basketball, 20.9 percent of its pool, and $1.6 million to women's basketball, 8 percent, per Front Office Sports. It projected football at 63.8 percent.

Those figures describe a top-conference school. Across the 307 reporting schools, the average payment was about $5.8 million, my division of $1.77 billion by 307, so $4.3 million is not a typical basketball allocation.

My take is that the missing split matters more than the headline total. A parent comparing offers needs to know what a school pays its own basketball roster, not what the country spent on every sport. Women's basketball players have the most to lose from the silence: the estimate puts their share at about 38 percent of the men's share.

Is the cap really a limit?

For the top of the market it is close to one. Schools were capped at $20.5 million in 2025-26, and 68 schools reached the cap or came within 5 percent of it, per the Associated Press via ESPN. The cap rose to $21.58 million for this season, per the same report.

My take is that a cap that binds at the top pushes the rest of the money into third-party deals. Deals over $600 must be reported through NIL Go, which is explained in the NIL Go guide, and they carry their own rules, as the arbitration post shows. Players should treat school revenue sharing and third-party NIL as two offers, not one.

Would the Senate bill change the cap?

It would raise it sharply, but it is not law. The Senate-passed Protect College Sports Act would lift the cap to about $48 million, and it still must pass the House, per Bleacher Report as of October 1. The bill is explained in the Protect College Sports Act guide. I would not plan a recruiting decision around a cap that does not exist yet.

What should basketball families do with this?

Ask the school for its basketball revenue-sharing allocation in writing, and ask how it treats men's and women's basketball in the same budget. A national total tells a family nothing about one roster. Offers should be compared on the terms in the guide to comparing college basketball offers, and a player weighing an agent should read the guide on who young players should trust.