Texas A&M Football Players Rake In WAY More NIL Money Compared To Other Athletes In College Station

Texas A&M University is amongst the most prominent brands in collegiate athletics. It is the second-largest school in the nation in terms of student body population and Aggie fans won't let you forget about them, rest assured.

Earlier this year, the conversation surrounding Name, Image and Likeness centered itself firmly around College Station. There were reports about the amount of money boosters were shelling out and Nick Saban sparked a beef with Jimbo Fisher over his program's practices.

Although Fisher says that NIL "wasn't a factor" in landing the greatest college football recruiting class in history, there is money and opportunity to profit as an athlete at Texas A&M. In fact, it is significantly more lucrative to play football for the Aggies than any other sport.

(Photo by Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire/Stock photo via Getty Images)

Information obtained through the Texas Open Records act by Travis Brown of The Eagle reveal just how much money is being made by athletes in College Station. They did well for themselves.

During the first academic year after Name, Image and Likeness was made legal on July 1, 2021, Texas A&M athletes totaled $4,173,656.82 through NIL. More than 80% of the money was made by football players.

Here is how Texas A&M's NIL money breaks down by team:

These numbers do not necessarily include other forms of compensation, i.e. free meals, free gear, etc.

However, it is a massive total either way.

To put the number in comparison, according to The Austin American-Statesman, University of Texas athletes made around $2,039,180 through the majority of the 2021-22 academic year. That is about half of their cross-state counterparts.

Of that money, the Longhorns football team earned approximately $880,000, with the largest single deal being worth $60,000. That is less than a third of Aggies football players.

Texas law requires collegiate student-athletes to provide contract documentation of every NIL to their university's athletics compliance office, so these numbers are likely pretty accurate. With that all being said, the current landscape of NIL is the Wild West. There is a lot of shenanigans going on in every facet of the various operations and there could be a lot of money/alternate compensation that is out there and not public.