Kentucky to allocate nearly half of rev-share budget to men’s basketball, per report
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Kentucky is expected to allocate about 45% of its revenue-sharing budget to its men’s basketball program, according to a report.
That news comes from CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, who shared that information in a wide-ranging piece on the future of college basketball in the revenue-sharing era. Norlander’s report notes that most SEC teams are expected to cap their men’s basketball revenue-sharing payments at under $3 million, instead giving a larger portion of the pie to football.
However, Kentucky is taking a different approach by prioritizing its history-laden men’s basketball team. Per Norlander, Kentucky will allocate more than $9 million of revenue-sharing payments to men’s basketball players in 2025-26. The revenue-sharing cap for each program across all sports is at approximately $20.5 million for this upcoming academic year.
It’s possible this decision will give Kentucky a competitive advantage over some of its SEC rivals who have become more focused on basketball in recent years, such as football-focused Alabama and Auburn. Those programs could potentially make up the difference in third-party NIL payments, but more scrutiny is expected in the NIL space moving forward.
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As part of the House settlement, significant NIL agreements must now be approved through an NIL Go clearinghouse operated by Deloitte. However, further litigation could be possible if payments from NIL collectives are limited.
With rosters already set for 2025-26, it’s possible Kentucky’s resource allocation will have more of an impact in future years. The Wildcats added the No. 4 incoming recruiting class (including transfers) in the country this offseason, per 247Sports Composite rankings.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
