Comparing NIL payouts at Texas universities is a futile exercise

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M athletes can step onto the tallest podium as champions of name, image, and likeness compensation this year, having earned $17.5 million more than athletes at the University of Texas. KBTX obtained that data via an open records request for the period from July 2, 2024, to July 1, 2025.

However, before the band strikes up the “Aggie War Hymn” as champagne bottles pop, the title comes with a huge caveat: comparing NIL numbers across programs statewide is mostly impossible.

Every program across the state has a different interpretation of what data is subject to open records laws and how that data is presented in what is released.

Over the past two years, KBTX has penned open records requests to all of the public Football Bowl Subdivision universities in the state, requesting the total number of dollars earned by athletes in name, image, and likeness compensation for a year-long period beginning in July. We also requested those totals broken out by gender and by individual team. This year, the same request was sent to the four public power conference programs in the state: Texas A&M, the University of Texas, Texas Tech, and the University of Houston. All requests were made using identical wording.

Texas A&M provided totals divided only by gender, totaling $50.5 million. For the same time period, Texas athletes earned a total of $33 million, a number compiled by adding the totals of every sport provided to KBTX via the open records request, the exact data requested.

Here is where the first asterisk is inserted: Numbers provided by A&M also included the total value of multi-year NIL deals signed within the requested year. So, if A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, hypothetically, signed a two-year, $50,000 NIL deal on Dec. 2, 2024, the full value of that contract is included in the aggregate data provided. Neither Texas nor Texas Tech’s data came with the same footnote.

The complicated data makes further analysis difficult, such as the fact that Texas Tech athletes earned $24.5 million over the last school year, which appears less than half as much as A&M athletes. Or that female Longhorn athletes earned $4.3 million in NIL deals during the requested timeframe for last season, making up 13% of the athletic department’s total NIL compensation. A&M’s female athletes earned $2.2 million, or 4% of the total earnings, during the same timeframe.

What laws govern NIL data in Texas?

When it comes to withholding information, legal counsel within the universities have differing interpretations of two key laws: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal statute protecting the privacy of student records, and the state’s NIL legislation. Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Houston cited both as reasons to withhold certain requested data. No NIL data was provided by Houston in two requests made over the last two years, with the university claiming exemption due to the state’s NIL law.

The state’s first NIL legislation in 2021, Senate Bill 1385, stated that universities must collect copies of all NIL contracts signed by student athletes to ensure compliance with the law. That language has carried over three iterations of state law regarding college athletes’ NIL deals, including the one in place today.

Since 2021, universities have typically provided the aggregate total of NIL contracts via open records requests, with some providing totals by gender and sport.

In 2023, the state of Texas updated its NIL laws with House Bill 2804, which included a clause on the confidentiality of NIL contracts obtained by the university. According to the bill, “Information written, produced, collected, assembled or maintained by an institution to which this section applies that includes or reveals any term of a contract or proposed contract for the use of the student athlete’s name, image or likeness is confidential and excepted from required public disclosure.” That language was maintained in the newest iteration of state NIL law, House Bill 126, which went into effect on June 5 of this year.

During a Senate Committee on Education hearing for House Bill 2804 in 2023, when asked about the new NIL confidentiality language in the bill, University of Texas associate vice president for legal affairs Lisa Bennett testified that aggregate NIL data could still be considered an open record.

“What this provision is aimed at is information that would reveal the terms of contracts, and that’s because those terms can often be traced back to individual students in violation of their privacy,” Bennett said during the meeting. “But there is certain aggregate data that can and has been already released, and nothing in this bill stands in the way of that.”

“If there were a request asking how many NIL deals or how many total dollars had come into athletes at the school, perhaps even subdivided into men’s or women’s teams or certain teams, I think that data could typically be provided in the aggregate,” she continued, while Texas A&M University System deputy general counsel R. Brooks Moore nodded in agreement to her left.

What data was released?

Over the last two years, A&M has only provided totals by gender, which can be added for a grand total. A&M cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as well as state NIL law for withholding totals by sport.

Last year, Texas Tech provided totals for every sport. This year, Tech redacted the totals from some of the smaller sports, claiming FERPA exemption. For last year’s request, Tech was the only university that asked for payment for the work required to compile the request, which is legal under Texas open records law.

Texas has provided totals for every sport since NIL compensation became legal in the state in 2021.

Baylor, TCU, and SMU are all private power conference programs that are not bound by open record laws. Officials from Baylor and TCU declined to share NIL numbers when asked by KBTX last year.

Every public FBS university released NIL data when requested last season, except for the University of North Texas, which cited FERPA as a reason to withhold. UTEP asked for a ruling from the Office of the Attorney General, which ultimately ruled that most of the NIL data should be released, though some could be withheld due to FERPA protections. UTEP’s released data gave totals for men’s and women’s basketball, football, soccer, softball, men’s track and field, beach volleyball, and volleyball for the July to July date range from 2023 to 2024. The grand total equaled $13,868.56.

How does revenue sharing impact NIL data?

NIL compensation is different than revenue-sharing agreements that have begun between athletes and universities, thanks to the approval of the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement in June. FERPA protects revenue-sharing contracts with individual athletes. A&M cited FERPA when withholding an individual athlete’s contract requested by KBTX last month.

In this new era of revenue sharing in college athletics, A&M athletic director Trev Alberts said continuing to connect athletes with NIL deals can be the key to recruiting the top talent in the country.

“The better Texas A&M is at driving the collective strategy around our brand, the better it’s going to be for fair-market value NIL for student athletes,” Alberts said while speaking to media about the approval of the House settlement in late June.

Copyright 2025 KBTX. All rights reserved.