Press Box: VCU men’s basketball players are set to make six figures
Illustration by Nathan Varney.
Alexis Washington, Staff Writer
Student-athletes will receive a set salary in addition to their name, image and likeness earnings thanks to an NCAA settlement. This means VCU athletes will no longer have to rely solely on NIL deals starting in 2026.
The settlement allows for athletic programs to revenue share up to $20 million, according to NIL Daily.
VCU decided to opt in but only at $4 to $5 million, according to NBC12.
Allowing college athletes to receive money directly from their university is something I did not expect since it took the NCAA years to finally allow NIL deals.
I remember when athletes were finally allowed to secure brand deals. Before, universities would benefit from the success of their players. Now, every time you scroll on social media, an athlete is featured in an advertisement.
The settlement will help VCU student-athletes who do not have NIL deals already, though the difficult part will be allocating the money to each team.VCU offers 17 sports with over 350 student-athletes.
However, the men’s basketball team has nothing to worry about. They generate the most revenue out of all the sports and will receive most of the money.
“Men’s basketball is one of the highest profile sports we have, so they’ll certainly be benefitting from that for sure,” said VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin in an interview with NBC12.
There has been talk that each men’s basketball player can make up to $384,000 per athlete, according to a post on X.
VCU’s men’s basketball team is currently ranked top three in the Atlantic-10 conference. The money they will receive reflects the work they put in.
If you’ve ever been to a men’s basketball game at the Siegel Center, you’ll notice one thing, the seats are always full.
They bring in a lot of money, fans, donors and sponsors. However, each player’s pay needs to look different. The pay should align with their stats and accolades from this and previous years, even though the contract can’t strictly be “performance-based” on paper.
In other words, VCU athletic directors will have to find ways to justify each player’s salary.
It would be unrealistic to think every player will start off making six figures. Think about freshmen who will be joining the lineup. It doesn’t make sense for them to immediately make the same amount of money as the veterans on the team.
With that said, where does this leave the other athletes at VCU?
Currently, 13 players are on VCU’s men’s basketball roster. If most of the money is allocated to them, then the rest of the student-athletes will receive very little.
I never looked at collegiate sports as a job until now. The players are technically employers of VCU since they will get paid directly from the university.
If they are not playing up to the standards of the organization, could they get fired?
There is a lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions.
Everything will be finalized by April regarding VCU athletes’ pay, according to NBC12. Regardless of the outcome, the men’s basketball team will be the richest students on campus.
