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The money made by college football players is projected to nearly double this year during the first season of revenue-sharing in college sports.
College football players are expected to earn $1.9 billion in 2025, according to a new report from NIL (name, image, and likeness) data platform Opendorse, which has direct insight into half of Power 4 and Group of 6 schools.
That’s almost twice as much as the $1 billion college football players were estimated to have made last year. Total earnings for college football players have risen by an average of $202.33 million each of the past three years.
Last year, Opendorse estimates college football players made $853.1 million from NIL deals facilitated by school collectives and $150.5 million from other commercial deals. This year, commercial money is projected to reach $290 million, while collective money is predicted to drop to $213.4 million.
However, with athletic departments now allowed to share up to $20.5 million of revenue with athletes, “collegiate” money is projected to bring in $1.4 billion for college football players, per the report.
Total earnings for college football players are estimated to hit $2.4 billion in 2026 and $2.6 billion in 2027.
Pay Scale
The total amount of money earned by Power 4 football players this year is estimated by Opendorse to be 13.1% of the revenue generated by their schools.
When it comes to revenue sharing, the split varies between conferences, but quarterbacks are unsurprisingly receiving the highest percentage of revenue across Power 4 conferences. Here are the five highest-paid positions:
- Quarterbacks: 18%
- Receivers: 15.13%
- Offensive linemen: 14.35%
- Defensive linemen: 13.1%
- Defensive backs: 12.23%
Linebackers are receiving 10.75% of revenue-sharing money, and running backs are getting 9.67%.
