It's hard to track how much NIL cash student-athletes are making
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Even as player sponsorship deals are remaking the college athletics landscape, tracking the money at play is increasingly challenging.
Why it matters: Student-athletes are now able to make a buck — or several million — off their name, image and likeness, but knowing how much they're making and where it comes from appears more opaque than ever.
Catch up quick: Pressed in courts and by student-athletes, the NCAA in 2021 lifted its long-standing ban against athletes earning money from sponsorship and endorsement deals.
How it works: As part of a 2025 class action settlement involving compensation for student-athletes, NIL deals worth more than $600 are supposed to be reported to the recently created College Sports Commission (CSC).
- News organizations like Axios used to be able to track breakdowns of overall NIL money, per sport, at the University of Texas through open records requests.
- But "the CSC is not providing school-specific information at this time," a spokesperson tells Axios.
Follow the money: In the nine months between June 11, 2025, and March 10, 2026, student-athletes nationally had signed $166.5 million across 21,025 deals, per the CSC.
- That's "a fraction of actual deal volume," Bill Carter, who tracks money in college sports, wrote in his NIL Forum newsletter. That means universities and athletes "are making real decisions — roster construction, deal pricing, partnership valuations — based on a market that is substantially underreported."
Zoom in: Arch Manning, quarterback at the University of Texas, reportedly has promotional contracts with Google Gemini, Red Bull and Warby Parker, among other companies.
- On3, a site that follows college sports sponsorships, pegs Manning's NIL value at $5.3 million, the top in the nation. He's earning so much in sponsorships that in December, he asked UT to cut its direct player pool payout to him — to free up more money, in part, for the offensive linemen who protect him.
Money is also flowing to student-athletes in more obscure programs.
- In January, Texas One, the official subscription service for Texas Athletics, announced a partnership with MyPlayer Athlete, a commerce platform that enables college athletes to launch and monetize their own custom merchandise, such as hoodies or backpacks.
- "There are so many sports at Texas — like rowing and women's soccer — that don't get as much attention as they should," Will Collins, CEO of MyPlayer Athlete, tells Axios.
Flashback: In 2024, UT provided Axios with the combined total money earned in NIL contracts in each sport, in response to a request under the Texas Public Information Act.
Between the lines: This year, however, responding to an Axios open records request, UT declined to turn over NIL contracts it has with any men's or women's basketball players, citing federal and state student privacy laws.
- In response to a separate Axios open records request, UT turned over its contract with Learfield, a firm that specializes in facilitating and promoting university NIL deals. But citing state law, the financial terms of the contracts were redacted. (Axios is asking for a state attorney general opinion on the matter.)
The bottom line: With NIL matters generally a headache for institutions, "schools are unhelpful, do the bare minimum" to release contract details "and slow walk everything they can," Carter tells Axios.