Do College Football Players Get Paid? The New World of NIL Explained (2025)

For decades, the question “Do college football players get paid?” had a simple, firm answer: no. They were considered amateurs who were compensated with an athletic scholarship and nothing more. However, if you’ve followed sports news at all in the last few years, you know that answer is now completely out of date.

The world of college sports was turned on its head in 2021, and the aftershocks are still shaping a new reality. So, what’s the real story in 2025? This guide will explain exactly how college football players are earning money, who is paying them, and what it means for the future of the sport.

The Short Answer: Yes, But Not for Playing the Game (Yet)

Here’s the most direct answer: Yes, many college football players are getting paid, and some are earning millions.

However, they are not receiving a traditional salary or paycheck from their university for their performance on the field. Instead, they are earning money from third-party sources by monetizing their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). This is a critical distinction that separates the current system from a true professional model, though that line is getting blurrier every day.

The Traditional Model: Scholarships and the Era of Amateurism

To understand how radical the new system is, it’s important to know the old one. For over a century, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) built its system on the principle of “amateurism.” This meant that student-athletes could not be paid for their athletic ability.

The only compensation they could receive was an athletic scholarship, which typically covers:

Tuition and fees
Room and board
Required textbooks
A cost-of-attendance stipend for personal expenses

This scholarship model still exists and remains the financial foundation for most student-athletes. NIL earnings are money they make on top of their scholarships.

The Game Changer: What is NIL?

The entire system changed on July 1, 2021. Understanding the term NIL is key to understanding modern college sports.

Defining Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) is a legal term for a person’s right to control the commercial use of their own identity. Think of it as your personal brand. Before 2021, student-athletes were the only group of people on a college campus who were prohibited from monetizing their own fame. The rule change gave them the same rights as any other student.

How the 2021 NCAA Ruling Changed Everything

The shift was a direct result of mounting legal and public pressure, culminating in the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling in NCAA v. Alston. While the case was about education-related benefits, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s scathing concurring opinion signaled that the court saw the NCAA’s restrictions on player compensation as a violation of antitrust law. Reading the writing on the wall, the NCAA adopted an interim policy that effectively opened the floodgates for NIL compensation.

How Do Players Actually Make Money? Common NIL Deals

NIL isn’t a single paycheck; it’s a collection of entrepreneurial activities. Here are the most common ways players are generating income:

Type of NIL Deal	Description	Real-World Example
Brand Endorsements	A player partners with a company to promote its products or services.	A star quarterback appears in TV commercials for a local car dealership or posts about a national sports drink brand on his Instagram.
Social Media	Players leverage their online following to create sponsored content.	An popular wide receiver is paid by a clothing brand to wear their apparel in his TikTok videos.
Public Appearances	Athletes are paid a fee to appear at events, sign autographs, or meet with fans.	A group of offensive linemen are paid to sign autographs for two hours at a local sports memorabilia store.
Camps & Coaching	Players use their expertise to coach younger athletes.	A kicker hosts a weekend camp for high school specialists, charging an entry fee for his instruction.
NIL Collectives	This is the most significant force in NIL. These are independent, donor-run organizations created to fund NIL opportunities for a specific school’s athletes, often in exchange for charity appearances or content creation.	A collective funded by a university’s wealthy boosters pays every scholarship football player $50,000 a year in exchange for them making five appearances at local charities.

Are All Players Getting Rich? The Reality of NIL Earnings

One of the biggest myths about NIL is that every player on the team is now driving a Lamborghini. The reality is a highly stratified market:

The Elite Tier (Top 1%): Star quarterbacks and Heisman Trophy candidates at major programs can earn $1 million to $5+ million per year.
The Starter Tier: High-performing starters at Power 5 conference schools often earn in the mid-five to low-six figures ($50,000 – $250,000).
The Contributor Tier: Rotational players, starters at smaller schools, and many other scholarship athletes might earn $5,000 to $50,000.
The Base Tier: Many players at the bottom of the roster may only receive a few thousand dollars or “value-in-kind” deals, like free merchandise or gift cards.

The Great Debate: Is NIL Good for College Football?

Four years into the NIL era, the system remains a source of intense debate.

Arguments For NIL (Player Empowerment)	Arguments Against NIL (The “Wild West”)
Fair Compensation: Players finally get a share of the billion-dollar industry they help create.	“Pay-for-Play”: NIL is often used as a recruiting inducement, which is technically against the rules but hard to enforce.
Financial Literacy: Teaches athletes about contracts, taxes, and managing money from a young age.	Roster Instability: The transfer portal has combined with NIL to create constant player movement based on who can pay the most.
Support for Families: Allows players from low-income backgrounds to help support their families back home.	Locker Room Division: Huge disparities in earnings between teammates can create jealousy and friction.

What’s Next? The Future of Player Compensation

The NIL landscape of 2025 is likely just a transitional phase. The next battle is already being fought in the courtroom, and it’s pushing college sports toward an even more professional model.

The Push for Employee Status and Revenue Sharing

Major lawsuits like House v. NCAA are challenging the entire amateurism model. The goal of these suits is to have players classified as employees of their universities or conferences. This would mean:

Direct payment from schools for playing.
Revenue sharing, giving players a percentage of the massive TV media rights deals.
The ability to collectively bargain for benefits and workplace protections.

Potential Congressional Action

To avoid being legislated by the courts, the NCAA and conference commissioners are actively lobbying Congress to pass a federal NIL law. They hope a federal bill would create a uniform standard across the country and provide them with a limited antitrust exemption to help them govern the sport without facing constant lawsuits.

Key Takeaways

Players Are Paid, But Indirectly: College football players are paid through third-party NIL deals, not as a salary from their schools.
Scholarships Still Exist: NIL money is earned in addition to a player’s athletic scholarship.
NIL Collectives Run the Show: Donor-funded collectives are the biggest players in the NIL space and have made it resemble a “pay-for-play” system.
Earnings Vary Wildly: A few stars earn millions, but most players earn far less.
The Future is Professional: The current NIL system is unstable. Legal and political pressures are pushing college football towards a model where players may soon be recognized as employees and share in revenue.

More information from CollegeBoard

Conclusion: The Bottom Line: A New Era for Student-Athletes

The days of the unpaid “amateur” college football player are definitively over. The introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness rights has created a chaotic, controversial, but ultimately more equitable system where athletes can capitalize on their immense value.

While the current model is a messy mix of entrepreneurship and booster-led payments, it is serving as a bridge to an even more professionalized future. The line between college and pro sports has never been blurrier, and the next few years will likely see it erased almost entirely.

Helpful Resources:

On3 NIL 100: A ranking of the top NIL earners in college sports.
NCAA’s NIL Resource Page: The official policy information from the NCAA.