Texas A&M Spent Over $50 Million On NIL Payroll For Athletes In 2024-2025. But, Is It Enough Moving Forward?

As the college athletics world continues to evolve in this era of NIL, there are plenty of schools willing to spend an enormous amount of money to make sure they are staying on a level playing field, especially a school like Texas A&M. 

Before the House settlement was officially approved in a California courtroom, there was a run on making sure athletes were taken care of when it came to NIL payments, most notably how collectives were making sure athletes received a majority of their money in ‘front-loaded’ deals. 

This all took place in the months leading up to new rules being put into place, which made for some interesting stories on the recruiting trail, and most importantly for players finding a new home through the transfer portal. 

If you wanted to know how much money it took a Power Four Conference school to keep up with their counterparts, look no further than Texas A&M, thanks to an open records request from Alex Miller of The Bryan-College Station Eagle. 

According to Miller, the Aggies spent $51.4 million on NIL payments in both men's and women's sports from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. This was a massive jump from the $19.1 million spent in the previous year. Think about that for a minute. Over $50 million in financial contracts to student athletes in one calendar year. 

And, it was a lopsided number when it came to which sports were making a majority of this money, with $49.2 million going to men's sports, while $2.2 million went to the women's side. In reality, this is not a massive discrepancy, given that the Aggies were big spenders in football, basketball and baseball. 

Obviously, the revenue-generating sports are going to receive the largest percentage of the money spent on name, image and likeness, especially with the new revenue-sharing era underway. 

While this might seem like a lot of money, and it is, there are still some hard decisions being made across college campuses as we speak. How much money are some schools going to spend on basketball, compared to football? That all depends on which sport a university decides to spend its cut of the $20.5 million that the new rules allow for. 

There are plenty of schools that opted-in to the revenue-sharing model that will decide to spend a larger percentage on basketball, especially at schools like UConn, Houston or even in the SEC at Kentucky and Arkansas. Matt Norlander reported on Monday that Kentucky is using 45% of the $20.5 million on its basketball program, which is just above $9 million for the upcoming year. 

Are Schools Putting Basketball Ahead Of Football With NIL Rev-Sharing? Sure They Are

So, while a school like Texas A&M will steer a larger percentage for the football program, some schools are deciding to go the opposite route, and make sure the basketball program is competing for national championships on a yearly basis. 

In speaking with a number of sources on Monday evening, that Kentucky number is not exactly 45%, though the Wildcats are certainly spending more money from its revenue-share cap on basketball compared to other schools within the SEC. 

Going forward, there will be plenty of tough decisions to make by athletic departments across collegiate sports, while boosters who have quietly funded a large percentage of payrolls in the past will continue to do this behind the scenes. 

A number of basketball coaches told OutKick during the NCAA Tournament that having boosters handle some of the payments for the upcoming season, thanks to the front-loaded deals, were a huge part of making sure they didn’t fall behind this year. 

While there are plenty of schools still figuring out how much money to allocate, with coaches continuing to lobby for more money behind closed doors, the third-party collectives were a massive reason why a number of programs will have rosters that are worth over $12 million this upcoming year. 

Football Programs Are Only Going To Increase Spending To Keep Up With Foes

Heading into the 2025 season, programs like Texas, Texas Tech, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas A&M have spent a massive amount of money on their football teams, with a large percentage of the contracts already being paid out. Remember those front-loaded deals? 

For the Red Raiders, competing for a national championship was a goal for billionaire Cody Campbell, who has made sure Texas Tech will have a fighting chance this season. Thanks in large part to his financial contributions, Joey McGuire will have a roster that is reportedly worth over $30 million this year, which had Colorado's Deion Sanders calling out his name at Big 12 media days earlier this month. 

"Yeah, Joey got some money. Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money, I love it," Sanders said jokingly about Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell. "I love you, man. I appreciate you. Can you send a few of those dollars to us so we can get some of those players too?"

If Texas Tech could spend $1.2 million on softball phenom NiJaree Canady, imagine what they were willing to spend on a 5-star wide receiver this offseason. That was a clear indication of where this new era of sports was headed, and how some schools are going to compete in sports that are not generating revenue for the university. 

It comes down to the boosters and third-party entities still having a major role in funding rosters. 

Remember, under the new rules put into place following the House settlement agreement, each NIL deal over $600 has to be submitted for approval. 

As for Texas A&M, they were clearly willing to spend money over the past calendar year to make sure they were in a competitive space in this NIL world. 

But, as plenty of boosters told OutKick over the last few months, they are taking a gamble with their contributions, knowing that the only way to see some type of personal return on investment is the pure joy of witnessing their school hold up a trophy at the end of the season. 

There can only be one national champion in each sport, so there will be plenty of financial heartache at the end of each season if the rosters put together don't pay off with a title.