Key Takeaways
- Power-conference quarterbacks with a revenue-share agreement earn a median $230,000 in 2026, and the top 10 percent clear $1.61 million, per the College Sports Commission.
- Outside the four power conferences, roughly seven in ten football players at most positions receive no revenue-share money at all, according to YSBR’s calculation from CSC tables.
- In baseball, softball and women’s volleyball at power-conference schools, fewer than half of rostered athletes get paid, and medians run $6,000 to $12,000.
- Across lacrosse, rowing, cross country, fencing and other Olympic sports, the median revenue-share payment to athletes who are paid at all is $500.
What the College Athlete Compensation Data Covers
For the first time, there is an official answer to the question every travel-ball parent eventually asks. The College Sports Commission (CSC), the body created under the House settlement to oversee athlete pay, has published college athlete compensation data covering institutional revenue-share payments and third-party NIL deals for every sport it tracks. The headline numbers are large: schools paid $1.77 billion in revenue share through the CSC’s College Athlete Payment System (CAPS) from June 2025 through June 2026, and the NIL Go clearinghouse approved more than $582 million in third-party deals through August 31, 2026, according to On3’s report on the release.
The tables underneath those totals tell a narrower story. The data reports percentiles, not averages, for each sport split between the four “A4” conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC) and everyone else. Revenue-share figures come in two versions: “With $0,” which includes every rostered athlete, and “Without $0,” which includes only athletes who received or are scheduled to receive a payment. NIL figures cover only athletes with at least one cleared deal and reflect full contract value, which the CSC notes is not annualized.
CSC CEO Bryan Seeley said the release marks “the first time compensation data of this kind has been published” for college sports, per On3.
How Much Do Power Conference Football Players Make?
Football is where the money concentrates, and the CSC’s tables confirm the order of magnitude that has circulated anecdotally.
Among A4 quarterbacks with a revenue-share agreement, the median payment for calendar year 2026 is $230,000, the 75th percentile is $675,000 and the 90th percentile is $1,611,000, per the CSC. Defensive linemen follow at a $150,000 median, then offensive linemen at $133,000, defensive backs at $115,000, linebackers and wide receivers at $112,500, running backs at $108,500 and tight ends at $93,000. Specialists trail well behind: punters at $56,000, kickers at $48,500 and long snappers at $30,000.
Most A4 football players are on the payroll. YSBR’s calculation from the CSC roster counts shows 70 to 83 percent of players at the skill and line positions have a revenue-share deal. The 10th percentile among paid A4 players sits between $17,500 and $25,000 at every position with enough athletes to report, which reads as a common entry-level figure across the four conferences.
The picture flips outside the A4. At most non-A4 positions, only about 30 percent of rostered players receive any revenue-share payment, and kickers come in at 16 percent, per YSBR’s calculation. Medians among those paid run $14,000 to $18,000, with quarterbacks at $31,000 and a 90th percentile of $260,000.
Third-party NIL adds less than the public conversation suggests. The median cleared NIL contract value for an A4 quarterback is $65,550, per the CSC, and the other A4 skill and line positions land between $20,000 and $28,000. Among non-A4 players, the median at every position is $1,500 to $1,570, and at most positions the 25th and 75th percentiles sit within $100 of that figure, which points to a single standardized deal reaching most of that group. YSBR’s count of the CSC cohorts shows about 51 percent of A4 football players have a cleared NIL deal, compared with about 12 percent of non-A4 players.
One caveat the CSC flags directly: during the football season, CAPS counts contingent performance incentives as scheduled payments, so the 2026 figures assume every bonus is earned.
Basketball Pay Depends on the Conference Logo
The CSC breaks basketball out by conference, and the gaps are wide. For men’s players with a revenue-share deal, median payments from July 1, 2025, through April 6, 2026, were $225,000 in the ACC, $187,500 in the Big Ten, $175,000 in the SEC and $150,500 in the Big 12, per the CSC. Outside the A4, the median was $33,000. The 90th percentile ranges from $559,500 in the Big Ten to $662,500 in the Big 12.
The SEC has the highest floor: the 25th percentile among paid SEC men’s players is $117,500, with the Big Ten next at $80,000. The SEC also shows the smallest share of rostered players paid through April 6, at 45 percent by YSBR’s calculation, a figure that likely reflects payment timing since the CSC window excludes anything due after April 6.
In women’s basketball, the Big Ten leads with a $50,000 median and a $175,500 90th percentile among paid players, per the CSC. The SEC follows at $45,000, the ACC at $37,500 and the Big 12 at $21,000. Non-A4 women’s players who are paid receive a median $8,000. NIL medians across the four A4 conferences fall between $6,250 and $10,320 in both men’s and women’s basketball.
Baseball, Softball, Volleyball and the $500 Floor
For youth sports operators whose customers play Olympic sports, this section is the one to read twice.
Baseball is the largest non-revenue sport in the data. Of 2,498 rostered A4 baseball players, 712 received a revenue-share payment, a 29 percent participation rate by YSBR’s calculation, with a median of $12,000 and a 90th percentile of $62,000, per the CSC. Non-A4 baseball actually counts more paid players (747) at a $7,500 median. The median cleared NIL contract for an A4 baseball player is $8,000.
Women’s volleyball comes next: 466 of 1,153 A4 players were paid, with a $10,000 median and a $50,000 90th percentile. Softball shows 310 of 1,362 A4 players paid, a $6,000 median and a $35,000 90th percentile. Wrestling (89 of 833 paid, $10,000 median) and women’s gymnastics (93 of 620 paid, $6,000 median) round out the sports where paid athletes see five figures.
After that, the number that repeats across the CSC tables is $500. Women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse at A4 schools, rowing, equestrian, fencing, cross country, rifle, field hockey, men’s swimming, men’s indoor track and women’s outdoor track all show a $500 median among athletes who were paid at all, and in several cases $500 at the 25th and 75th percentiles too. Women’s soccer at A4 schools has 1,878 rostered players; 315 were paid, with a median of $1,000, per the CSC.
The CSC data excludes scholarships, cost-of-attendance stipends and Alston payments, so these figures are not the full value of an athlete’s package. They are, however, the first verified look at what the new money actually looks like outside football and basketball.
A $1.6 Million Quarterback and 2,550 Track Athletes at Zero
The CSC says it will update the data as additional information arrives, and the NIL Go and CAPS windows will roll forward each year, which gives the youth sports industry a recurring benchmark it has never had.
For now, the two ends of the first report frame the market. At the top, an A4 quarterback in the 90th percentile is scheduled to receive $1,611,000 in revenue share this year. At the other end, women’s outdoor track and field at A4 schools counts 2,840 rostered athletes, of whom 290 received a payment, and the median payment among them was $500, per the CSC. Those 2,550 unpaid track athletes outnumber every paid A4 quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end in the country combined.
Source: College Sports Commission, Compensation Reports, accessed November 4, 2026, https://www.collegesportscommission.org/compensation-reports/
Source: College Sports Commission, NIL Go Payments Compensation Report, accessed November 4, 2026, https://www.collegesportscommission.org/nil-go-transparency-report/
Source: College Sports Commission, School Revenue Share Compensation Report, accessed November 4, 2026, https://www.collegesportscommission.org/school-revenue-share-compensation-report/
Source: On3, Nick Schultz, October 30, 2026, https://www.on3.com/nil/news/how-much-do-football-players-make-nil-revenue-sharing-college-sports-commission-full-data/
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About Youth Sports Business Report
Youth Sports Business Report (YSBR) is the largest and most trusted media platform covering the business of youth sports worldwide. YSBR delivers youth sports news, market intelligence, and original analysis daily across facilities, sponsorships, private equity, NIL, sports technology, and league operations. With more than 50,000 followers, YSBR is the leading source of youth sports industry news for the investors, owners, operators, and brands shaping the future of youth sports.
How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
Who founded Youth Sports Business Report?
Youth Sports Business Report was founded by Cameron Korab, a sports marketing veteran with more than a decade in the industry and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Korab also co-founded Vertical Sports, a sports marketing advisory serving brands across youth, college, and pro sports.
What does YSBR cover?
YSBR delivers original reporting and market intelligence on youth sports facilities, youth sports technology, sponsorship and brand partnerships, private equity and venture capital deals, NIL policy, coaching development, equipment and apparel, tournaments and events, and community sports initiatives. Readers include industry executives, investors, facility owners and operators, league administrators, and youth sports parents.
Youth Sports Business Report resources
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- Jobs: Browse the YSBR Youth Sports Job Board, the most comprehensive destination for careers in youth sports, with hundreds of active listings across facility management, league operations, coaching, sports technology, and marketing.
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Check out Jr. Sports Marketing on YouTube or Spotify
Hosted by Cameron Korab, founder of Youth Sports Business Report, Jr. Sports Marketing features candid 1-on-1 conversations with the brands, athletes, leagues, and innovators building the future of youth sports. Each episode breaks down how the smartest brands are activating, building equity, and winning with youth sports families. If you’re an operator, founder, investor, or marketer trying to understand where this space is headed, this is your show.
Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
