Report reveals how much college football players are making from NIL deals on average
How much cash are college football players making on average from NIL deals? That's become one of the most popular questions among college football fans and reporters over the last two years. NIL deals aren't public and there are all kinds of figures floating around which makes it difficult to determine what kind of money […]
How much cash are college football players making on average from NIL deals?
That's become one of the most popular questions among college football fans and reporters over the last two years.
NIL deals aren't public and there are all kinds of figures floating around which makes it difficult to determine what kind of money players are earning.
A recent report from Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger sheds some light on how much money players are making from NIL deals.
And it might not be as much as you think.
Dellenger recently wrote a story about NIL deals and their impact on the SEC. The longtime college football reporter/insider spoke to Jason Belzer, the CEO and co-founder of SANIL (Student Athlete NIL), for the story.
SANIL is an organization that manages over 30 booster collectives.
Belzer told Dellenger that most Power-5 collectives operate with around $3 million on hand, though he acknowledged that some collectives have $7 to $10 million while others have as little as $1 to $2 million.
As for what the players are earning?
According to Belzer, most players are getting around $10,000 to $50,000 annually. Belzer noted that "about five players per roster are making more than $100,000 on average".
I'm sure there's a variance on how many players are earning north of $100,000 at each program, but this report at least gives us a decent idea of how much players are making on average from NIL deals.
For a program like Tennessee, I'd assume that quarterbacks Joe Milton and Nico Iamaleava are making well over $100,000 (Nico allegedly had an $8 million NIL deal before arriving at UT). Some other notable players like wide receivers Ramel Keyton, Bru McCoy, and Dont'e Thornton could also be in that group (though that's purely speculation).
There are plenty of college football fans out there who don't love that players are getting paid via NIL deals, but these NIL deals are here to stay. In fact, if anything, they're just going to get more lucrative from here.