July 1, 2025 was supposed to change everything. After the House v. NCAA settlement received final approval, schools could share revenue directly with their athletes. The cap started at $20.5 million per school and rises to roughly $21.3 million this academic year, with further increases across the settlement’s ten year term. Headlines called it the end of amateurism.
For most college athletes, though, very little of that money is coming their way.
Follow the Money
The settlement lets each school decide how to allocate its pool. Most are following a similar formula: roughly 75 percent to football, 15 percent to men’s basketball, 5 percent to women’s basketball, and 5 percent for everyone else.
Everyone else. That includes every swimmer, sprinter, thrower, vaulter, softball player, hockey player, wrestler, and distance runner on campus, among them many of the athletes who go on to represent the United States internationally. They are splitting a small share across a dozen or more sports.
At some schools the split is starker still. Among Power Four programs that have made their plans public, football’s share generally lands between 70 and 75 percent and men’s basketball between 10 and 20 percent, leaving low single digits for every other sport on campus. Schools that instead mirror gross revenue by sport can push football past 85 percent.
Defenders of the system point to expanded scholarships, and removing the old scholarship caps is real progress. But a partial scholarship is not a paycheck. Meanwhile, the settlement’s new roster limits are projected to eliminate thousands of roster spots across Division I, with much of that reduction falling on Olympic and lower profile programs. The conversation also skips Division II and Division III entirely, where no revenue sharing applies at all.
The Athletes Who Fall Through the Cracks
None of this is an argument against paying football and basketball players. Those sports generate the revenue, and the athletes who produce it have earned their share.
But revenue sharing was never going to reach the javelin thrower with a national title, the hockey player on an Olympic track, or the softball star with a real following and no representation. These athletes have genuine fan interest and marketable value. What most of them lack is infrastructure.
There is, however, no cap on outside NIL earnings. Deals of $600 or more simply have to be reported through NIL Go, the clearinghouse operated by the College Sports Commission, and reviewed for a valid business purpose and a reasonable range of compensation. The legal pathway to paying every athlete already exists. What has been missing is a platform connecting everyday fans to the athletes revenue sharing overlooks, with the compliance tooling to do it properly.
Why This Matters Beyond Campus
College athletic programs remain the primary development pipeline for American Olympic sport. When revenue sharing concentrates in two sports and roster limits reduce opportunities everywhere else, that pipeline narrows. Supporting these athletes is not charity. It is an investment in the competitors who will represent the country in Los Angeles in 2028.
The revenue sharing era is a genuine step forward. But a step forward for some athletes should not mean standing still for the rest.
Football and basketball got their payday. RallyFuel exists so everyone else has a path to one too.
