The college basketball season might have just wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean that schools are taking any time off. The spring transfer window is well underway, and that means that programs are shelling out some serious NIL deals to attract the top players available.
It’s very apparent to anybody who even causally pays attention to big time college basketball that NIL has become the deciding factor in many recruitment and transfer decisions. It’s extremely difficult to pinpoint just how much teams are spending though, without serious connections.
CBS Sports senior college hoops writer Matt Norlander is one of the few people well-connected enough to make such estimates, and he recently revealed the absurd amount that eight schools are projected to spend in 2025.
Based on sources Norlander has talked to around the sport, he believes that their are currently eight teams who are believed to have at least $10 million in NIL commitments lined up for next season.
Every year of the NIL era has seen💵spikes but nothing compares to 2025. Schools are assembling $10 million+ rosters. Hundreds of millions are being promised across the sport. NIL contracts are brazenly broken.
An inside look at CBB’s unregulated economy. https://t.co/I7PudNKebm
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 17, 2025
Included in this “Golden Tier” of NIL spenders are a number of traditional Blue Blood programs such as the Kentucky Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils, and North Carolina Tar Heels.
Their are also several programs who have seen recent success included as well like the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Arkansas Razorbacks, and BYU Cougars all of whom made deep pushes in the most recent NCAA tournament.
Norlander also lists another tier right below this $10 million club made up of teams that have at least $8 million in NIL committed for next season. Headlining this group are another batch of certified contenders in the Auburn Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, and UCONN Huskies.
Every year of the NIL era has seen massive spikes in spending from year to year, but Norlander says that 2025 is slated to blow all previous years out of the water.
According to his estimates, Division I programs are projected to have over $400 million in NIL money collectively spent next season. This is a massive bump from even last years estimated $325 million in total spending across 360 D-1 teams.
It’s clear that when it comes to trying to secure a national title, teams across the sport are willing to do whatever it takes to build the best roster they can.
Whether or not this sustainable over the long term is a topic of very heated debate, but until somebody is able to reign in the spending the NIL spending is only going to continue going up.
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