Power Conferences Set Initial Revenue Sharing Cap Number for College Sports in 2025

The revenue-sharing era of college athletics is here, and now student-athletes will be putting more money in their pockets than ever before.

Revenue sharing across college sports will begin in the 2025-26 academic year, and as schools prepare for an unprecedented moment in collegiate athletics, the four power conferences sent their members an initial revenue cap number for next year, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.

According to the report from Dellenger, the expectation is that schools will operate under a “projected” cap of $20.5 million next school year. The cap is 22% of Power 4 (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) revenues from the previous academic year. Additionally, the cap has built in escalators of 4% in years two and three, before being recalculated in year four.

Schools are welcome to distribute the $20.5 million across its sports however they see fit. However, the expectation is that most power conference schools will heavily skew the payouts towards football and basketball players.

The revenue-sharing era of college athletics stems from the House v. NCAA court case that led to a settlement that stipulated $2.8 billion in back-pay to former athletes, a $20+ billion revenue sharing plan for current and future athletes (which is beginning in 2025-26) and new roster rules and enforcement for the power conferences in college athletics.