UCLA Could Pay Athletes Millions of Dollars in Massive Development

UCLA athletes could be earning big.

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

NCAA history was made last Thursday when it was announced that the NCAA and its Power 5 conferences came to an agreement to allow schools to directly play their players. The debate on whether or not colleges should pay their athletes has been going on for decades, and for the first time in history, the NCAA is allowing schools to pay players.

The UCLA athletic department announced that they plan to start revenue sharing with their athletes in August of 2025, before the 2025-26 school year. They also revealed that they could be paying their athletes a total of $20 million to 22 million dollars. This total would be distributed across their 600 athletes and 21 sports teams.

“It’s a new era in collegiate athletics,” a UCLA athletic department spokesperson said in a statement, via Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “We embrace this transformation for what it means for our student-athletes: the opportunity to receive direct NIL payments and revenue sharing. Our goals are to support and develop our student-athletes, compete at the highest level and maintain fiscal sustainability.”

“With finite resources, an investment in revenue sharing will greatly alter our financial outlook, and we anticipate important discussions with campus leadership around equity, who will receive these new benefits, and how we remain both competitive and fiscally sustainable,” the UCLA spokesperson said. “Our student-athletes and their holistic development remain at the core of everything we do, and we will continue to support and develop them while investing in priority areas of academics, nutrition and mental health resources.”

There are still numerous questions regarding the new rule, primarily on how the money will be distributed among the different athletes and sports. More details on this will likely be sorted out as the 2025-26 year approaches.

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