Key Points
- Schools paid 34,915 college athletes $1.77 billion directly in the first year of revenue sharing. That works out to about $50,700 per athlete on average.
- Only 68 of the 319 opted-in schools reached the $20.5 million cap or came within 5% of it. The cap rises to $21.58 million for 2026-27.
- Revenue sharing is separate from third-party NIL deals. The CSC reviews NIL deals through its NIL Go platform, and NIL income is generally taxed as self-employment income.
Colleges paid student-athletes $1.77 billion in direct revenue-sharing payments during the 2025-26 year. This was the first year schools could pay athletes directly from their own budgets and the data released was October 1 by the College Sports Commission (PDF File).
The money went to 34,915 athletes at 307 schools across 33 conferences and 45 sports.
Schools reported $1.98 billion in total distributions through the CSC’s College Athlete Payment System. That figure adds $42 million in Alston Awards and $163 million in new and incremental athletic scholarship spending on top of the revenue-sharing checks.
Why It Matters
Divided evenly, the revenue-sharing pool works out to roughly $50,700 per paid athlete, based on The College Investor’s math using CSC figures. Athletes earning that money face the same financial planning questions as NIL earners, such as how the IRS and the FAFSA treat their income.
The averages, though, hide wide gaps between schools. Each participating school could share up to $20.5 million, yet only 68 of the 319 opted-in schools reached the cap or came within 5% of it. The average paying school distributed about $5.8 million.
At the top end, we know that UCLA paid $20.5 million to 229 athletes and UC Berkeley paid $20.5 million to 147.
The Details
- Revenue sharing: $1,770,453,776 paid directly by schools
- New scholarship spending: $163,485,499
- Alston Awards: $42,034,090
- Schools paying athletes: 307 of 319 opted-in schools
- 2026-27 cap: $21.58 million per school, up from $20.5 million
Revenue-sharing money comes from the school itself. Third-party name, image and likeness (NIL) deals are separate, and the CSC reviews those through its NIL Go platform.
That split matters at tax time, because NIL income is generally treated as self-employment income subject to self-employment tax.
How This Connects
Most athletic departments already run deficits before revenue sharing enters the budget. Sharing this money with athletes, while incredibly beneficial to the athletes (and most people would say fair), is simply adding to the cost of college.
A GAO review found 94% of Division I programs spent more than they earned in 2023-24, and colleges covered $7.2 billion of that gap with tuition, student fees, and other unrestricted funds.
A school that pays out the full $20.5 million cap adds a cost roughly equal to the median Division I athletic deficit of $20.6 million.
What’s Next
The 2026-27 cap year began July 1 with a higher $21.58 million limit, and the CSC says it will publish aggregate revenue-sharing data after each year.
Congress could also change the rules: the Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act 77-22 on September 28, and the House has until January 3, 2027 to act before the bill dies.
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
He is committed to making the intersection of personal finance and education transparent and accessible. You can learn more about Robert on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
