$2.8M for nil.... SEC would have never been competitive in basketball again.
Revenue sharing is coming to college sports on July 1, as long as the House Settlement is approved by a federal judge this month. That means that for the 2025-26 season, schools can divvy up a maximum of $20.5 million across all their sports. According to the biggest sports business insider, the SEC planned to put spending caps on each sport, specifically limiting men’s basketball to around $3 million, but Kentucky led the charge against it.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports was a guest on The Matt Jones Showthis week and told Matt that the SEC wanted to set standards for each sport to create an even playing field once the new rev-share rules take effect. For football, the biggest revenue generator for all schools, even Kentucky, that figure was at least $13.5 million. Dellenger recalled the number for men’s basketball being around $2.8 million; that didn’t sit well with the conference’s biggest basketball blueblood, which was rumored to have spent upwards of $15 million on its roster this offseason.
“You’re not going to be surprised by this, but Kentucky did not — and some others too — butKentucky Basketball specifically was a pretty big voice in the room to make sure that those standards weren’t set as a policy because Kentucky, obviously, wants to spend more [in basketball].”
Dellenger used South Carolina women’s basketball and Arkansas and LSU baseball as examples of other programs that didn’t want caps. There was so much dissent that the plans were shelved — for now.
Kentucky Basketball reportedly derailed SEC’s plans to cap NIL spending per sport
Revenue sharing is coming to college sports on July 1, as long as the House Settlement is approved by a federal judge this month. That means that for the 2025-26 season, schools can divvy up a maximum of $20.5 million across all their sports. According to the biggest sports business insider, the SEC planned to put spending caps on each sport, specifically limiting men’s basketball to around $3 million, but Kentucky led the charge against it.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports was a guest on The Matt Jones Showthis week and told Matt that the SEC wanted to set standards for each sport to create an even playing field once the new rev-share rules take effect. For football, the biggest revenue generator for all schools, even Kentucky, that figure was at least $13.5 million. Dellenger recalled the number for men’s basketball being around $2.8 million; that didn’t sit well with the conference’s biggest basketball blueblood, which was rumored to have spent upwards of $15 million on its roster this offseason.
“You’re not going to be surprised by this, but Kentucky did not — and some others too — butKentucky Basketball specifically was a pretty big voice in the room to make sure that those standards weren’t set as a policy because Kentucky, obviously, wants to spend more [in basketball].”
Dellenger used South Carolina women’s basketball and Arkansas and LSU baseball as examples of other programs that didn’t want caps. There was so much dissent that the plans were shelved — for now.
