Opendorse released its latest NIL report, and the numbers may surprise you.
Opendorse describes itself as an athlete marketplace that is involved in educating, assessing, planning, sharing, creating, measuring, tracking, disclosing, regulating, listing, browsing, and booking NIL deals for student-athletes while connecting players with advertisers, colleges, collectives, and more.
The report laid out how NIL is affecting this upcoming season of college football with a market snapshot, budget allocations, geographical trends and top athlete brands today.
According to the report, just 0.3 percent of all college football players are making more than $1 million, and just 0.6 percent make between $999,000-$500,000.
The majority of college football players make less than $10,000 (66.5 percent). 16.1 percent make between $49,000-$10,000, and just 7.4 percent of college football players are estimated in the report to make between $99,000-$50,000.
Making the most waves is conference budget allocation, which highlights how much of their member schools’ budgets are going to different position groups. All percentages and metrics are according to Opendorse’s report released on Aug. 27, 2025.
Which conference pays their quarterbacks a bigger share of revenue?
The Big 12 lead all Power 4 conferences with 23.1 percent of their rev-share budget being paid to quarterbacks.
The ACC is second at 19.4 percent, and the SEC third at 15.1 percent. The Big Ten is last in quarterback rev-sharing at 14.4 percent of the total budget.
Which conference prioritizes defense with revenue sharing?
The SEC, far and away, pays defensive players a bigger slice of the pie than the other P4 conferences.
The SEC revenue-sharing split for offense and defense is 57/43 in favor of the offense. The gap is much wider for other conferences. The ACC favors offense 70/30, the Big Ten 62/38, and the Big 12 at 64/36.
The SEC pays their defensive linemen 15.5 percent of the rev-share budget, the only conference that has a defensive position group higher than its quarterback percentage. They also pay linebackers a higher percentage (13.5) than any other conference.
The Big 12 pays more towards defensive backs, with 14.4 percent of the budget going to the position group. The SEC is in a close second at 13.6 percent. The Big Ten has defensive backs at 13.1 percent of the rev-share budget, and the ACC with 7.8 percent.
Which conference pays wide receivers more of the rev-share budget?
The Big Ten, ACC, and SEC are all within one percentage point of each other when it comes to rev-sharing with wideouts.
The Big Ten pays its wideouts the biggest piece of the pie at 16.8 percent, the largest share of any position group in the conference. Coming in just behind them is the ACC at 16.3 percent. The SEC is third at 15.9 percent. Big 12 schools contribute 11.5 percent of their rev-sharing budget to wide receivers.
Which conference pays offensive linemen more of their rev-sharing budget?
The ACC’s member schools pay their offensive linemen the largest share of the rev-sharing budget at 17 percent.
The Big Ten pays offensive linemen second most of any position group at 15.5 percent, behind wide receivers and ahead of quarterbacks. SEC schools contribute 14.4 percent of their rev-share budget to the offensive line, and the Big 12 pays 10.5 percent.
Which conference pays running backs the biggest piece of the rev-sharing budget?
The Big 12 leads the P4 conferences in running back rev-sharing at 10.8 percent, but all four conferences have running backs on the lower side of the split.
The ACC pays running backs 10.6 percent, while the Big Ten kicks in 9.7 percent. The SEC is last at just 7.6 percent.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: College football NIL money: How Power 4 conferences slice the pie among position groups?
Reporting by Nick Wilson, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
