Simply Success Newsroom

For the first time, college football has a price chart. On Friday, October 30, the College Sports Commission released aggregated, anonymized compensation data showing what Division I football players are actually earning from school revenue sharing and cleared NIL deals, broken down by position and by Power Four versus everyone else.

The numbers confirm what many in the industry suspected but could never prove: the market is real, it is steep at the top, and it is far thinner in the middle and at the bottom than the headlines suggest. CSC chief executive Bryan Seeley called it "the first time compensation data of this kind has been published" in college sports.

What the CSC Data Shows

The headline figure belongs to quarterbacks. According to RG's breakdown of the CSC football tables, the median Power Four quarterback receiving revenue sharing is slated for $230,000 in 2026, while the 90th percentile reaches $1.611 million. On the third party NIL side, the Power Four quarterback median is $65,550 and the 90th percentile is $996,049.

Outside the Power Four, the picture changes dramatically. The median revenue sharing figure for a quarterback drops to $31,000, and the median cleared NIL total sits at just $1,570.

Across other positions, Power Four medians for revenue sharing cluster between roughly $93,000 and $150,000, with defensive linemen at the top of that range, per On3's position by position tables. Specialists trail well behind: the median Power Four kicker is at $48,500 and the median long snapper at $30,000.

FootballScoop combined the two data sets and estimated total pay for a 90th percentile Power Four quarterback at about $2.6 million, compared with a combined median near $296,000. Its analysis also found that revenue sharing makes up roughly 30 to 40 percent of total pay for top earners at that level, and only about 10 to 20 percent for a median earner.

The Fine Print Matters

These figures need careful reading. The CSC's compensation report methodology explains that football revenue sharing covers payments made or scheduled for 2026 roster players from January 1 through December 31, 2026, including performance incentives that have not yet been earned. Third party NIL figures cover deals cleared through NIL Go from January 1 through September 30.

NIL totals also reflect full contract values, which can span different lengths of time, so they are not annual salaries. Scholarships, cost of attendance stipends, and Alston payments are excluded entirely. The medians reported by position also leave out athletes who received nothing.

That last point is significant. On3 reports that 110 rostered Power Four quarterbacks and 573 quarterbacks outside the Power Four were excluded from the revenue sharing tables because they received no payment. Across positions, thousands of non Power Four players fall into that zero category. For many rostered athletes, the new economy has not yet arrived.

Why It Matters for Athletes and Brands

Until now, athletes and families negotiated almost entirely in the dark. Offers arrived with little context, and rumor often filled the gap left by missing data. A public median by position changes that conversation. A starting offensive lineman at a Power Four program, for example, now has a benchmark ($133,000 median in revenue sharing) to measure an offer against.

For brands, the most revealing number may be the gap between revenue sharing and NIL. At the median, schools are paying football players far more than outside marketers are. Third party NIL at the median Power Four level runs roughly $20,000 to $28,000 for most positions, according to On3's figures. That suggests the true marketing premium in college football is concentrated among a relatively small group of high profile athletes, with the 90th percentile pulling far away from everyone else.

The lesson for athletes is clear. School pay is tied to a roster spot. Marketing value is tied to the person. The players who build an audience, a reputation, and a story beyond the stat sheet are the ones who move into that upper tier of NIL earnings, and they are the ones whose value travels with them after football.

The Florida View

Florida sits on both sides of this divide. Miami, Florida, Florida State, and UCF compete in Power Four conferences, while programs such as USF, FAU, and FIU fall into the non Power Four group. The CSC does not identify individual schools, but the data gives recruits weighing offers across the state a far clearer sense of the financial gap between those tiers.

It also lands during a busy stretch for the state, with Florida State's coaching future and buyout math in the headlines this week. The cost of competing at the top is now visible in black and white.

What to Watch Next

The CSC says its data may be updated as new information comes in. The first full year of revenue sharing already produced about $1.8 billion in direct payments to athletes, according to the CSC's October 1 release, spread across 307 schools and 34,915 athletes.

Watch for how agents, collectives, and athletic departments use these benchmarks during the winter roster cycle, and whether future releases add more detail on basketball, women's sports, and conference level comparisons. Expect the numbers to shape negotiations well before they shape headlines.

The takeaway: transparency has finally reached the college football market, and it shows a system where the median is solid, the top is lucrative, and many players are still waiting for their share. Data can level the negotiating table, but only a strong personal brand separates an athlete from the median.

Know the market before it moves. Get sharp sports business analysis delivered to your inbox. Join the Simply Success Sports newsletter.

Sources

• Yahoo Sports (On3): How much do football players make in NIL, revenue sharing? College Sports Commission reveals full data
• On3: How much do football players make in NIL, revenue sharing? College Sports Commission reveals full data
• FootballScoop: College Sports Commission provides data on how much, and how many, Division I football players are paid
• RG: College Sports Commission Data Shows Top Power Four Quarterbacks Earn More Than $1.6 Million
• College Sports Commission: Compensation Reports
• College Sports Commission: CSC Tracks $1.8 Billion in Payments to Student Athletes During First Year of Revenue Sharing