The College Sports Commission (CSC) recently released information relating to the first year of revenue sharing through the College Athlete Payment System (CAPS). There were 319 schools that opted in, but only 307 compensated student-athletes directly. These 307 schools totaled 34,915 student-athletes, which spanned 45 sports across 33 conferences.
In the first year of CAPS, each school could directly pay up to $20.5 million with their student-athletes and allocate the funds as they decided among the rosters of their various sports. It was reported that 68 schools reached the maximum amount available to distribute or came within five percent of it. The total distributions that were accounted for in CAPS included revenue-sharing payments, Alston awards, and new and incremental scholarship spending for a total of $1,975,973,365. It was disclosed that the total amount was broken down as follows: $1,770,453,776 from revenue-sharing, $42,034,090 in Alston Awards, and $163,485,499 from new and incremental scholarship spending.
The first cap-year has come to a close, with the current one beginning on July 1, 2026. Per the House settlement, the revenue-sharing cap increases each year, and this year’s cap is up to $21.58 million.
The full press release can be found at www.collegesportscommission.org