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Breaking down Opendorse's College Football Kickoff Report

And what it means for NIL

*Note: This is not a sponsored post.

Ahead of the 2025 college football season, I reviewed Opendorse’s College Football Kickoff Report.

As usual, Opendorse does a phenomenal job in the NIL space with management and operations at multiple colleges across the country, NIL education, and their marketplace where athletes can search and apply for NIL opportunities.

Let’s break down select sections of the report.

Total NIL Earnings by College Football Players

• What’s with the massive jump in 2025?

  • This reflects the outcome of the House Settlement, where Power 4 (P4) schools can now directly pay athletes. (See ‘Collegiate’ bullet point at the bottom of the graphic.)

  • The initial 2025 payout is $20.5M across all sports, with the number increasing annually. Most P4 schools will dedicate ~80% of revenue to football. (~$16M for this season.)

• School payouts results in less collectives money

  • From 2021-2024, Collective payout was 2-5x the amount of Commercial (brand partnerships) payout.

  • However, with collectives shifting (some merging with athletic departments, others shutting down completely) combined with the schools paying athletes directly, this has caused the model to flip. Going forward, Commercial payouts will be 0.5-4x Collectives payout.

Power 4 vs. Group of 6 Annual NIL Earnings

• No surprises here

  • P4 athletes earn significantly more than their G6 counterparts in the same positions.

    • However, it’s interesting to see that P4 backups earn somewhat close to what G6 starters earn in the same positions.

• Tight End and Specialist numbers to increase in the future?

  • I was surprised to see Tight End numbers being very low. However, this may be indicative of college football offenses where more emphasis is on other positions.

  • I could also see Specialist payout getting a significant boost as the years go by. (Closer to tight end payouts than quarterback, though.)

Income brackets for college football players

• Less than $10K could use a further breakdown

  • I feel that this category could be split into $0-$5K & $5K-$10K.

  • Reason being is that there are many players who are earning $0 but are landing some brand partnerships. Therefore, seeing what percentage of athletes are closer to $0 vs. closer to $10K could be interesting.

• Elite athletes earn elite dollars

  • The smallest percentage of athletes earn $1M+ is appropriate.

  • These athletes are also most likely landing significant commercial partnerships with global brands (Beats by Dre, Lululemon, T-Mobile, etc.) which adds to their NIL portfolio - and bank account.

Thank You for reading today’s newsletter

^{I discuss insights and news related to NIL and personal branding for athletes every Wednesday at 12p ET/9a PT.}

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