What is revenue-sharing cap?
The revenue-sharing cap is the most a participating Division I school can pay its athletes directly in a year. The College Sports Commission puts it at about $21.58 million per school for 2026-27, up from $20.5 million in the first year.
How it works
It comes from the House v. NCAA settlement approved June 6, 2025. Each year a school may share up to 22% of the average revenue power-conference schools earn from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships.
The commission expects a further 4% increase for 2027-28, and the cap is re-evaluated every three years for the rest of the settlement. Some outlets report $21.3 million for 2026-27; the commission’s figure governs compliance.
The cap is a ceiling for the whole athletic department, not a basketball budget. Each school decides how to split it among sports, and reporting suggests most goes to football and men’s basketball.
The numbers
Per school
Year one
Of average revenue
An example
A school sharing the full cap might give most of it to football, a few million to men’s basketball and smaller amounts to women’s basketball and other sports. The split is the school’s choice.
What it means for a player
The headline cap tells you little. The number that matters is the one in your written revenue-share agreement with the school.
Read next: How does revenue sharing work for college basketball players?
Sources
Reviewed September 26, 2026 by McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM, certified WNBA player agent and former certified NBA agent. Figures are refreshed each July. General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.