The revenue-sharing era of college sports is set to begin in a matter of days. The House settlement and its host of new rules, among them being the allowance for universities to directly pay players, takes full effect on July 1. For the power conference schools, teams in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, this means sharing all the way up to the designated cap of $20.5 million from their budgets (which range from $100 million to nearly $200 million at the top end) with players. For the rest of the schools, those in the Group of Five — the Mountain West, American, Sun Belt, Conference USA and MAC — reaching that revenue-sharing cap is not viable. The question at this point becomes which programs can reach the highest amount of revenue sharing.

While having what is essentially a salary cap could end up having a leveling effect on the Power Five, since every team will theoretically be paying the same amount of money on their rosters, the Group of Five (perhaps soon to be Group of Six as the Pac-12 rebuilds) are in a different camp. There are only two G5 teams that project to come anywhere close to having budgets big enough to meet that $20.5 million cap (which will be going up as its tied to average revenue of the P4 and Pac-12), are Oregon State and Washington State. But both of those schools will probably have to scale back spending, having been left behind in the collapse of the Pac-12. At best, G5 schools will find ways to share somewhere around $8-10 million, but it could take years of tightening spending elsewhere in athletic departments to be able to reroute that amount of money on an annual basis to the athletes.

Since revenue sharing hasn’t begun, obviously there isn’t any clear indication of how much money G5 teams are going to try to spend. Many programs have indicated they will opt in to revenue sharing but, understandably, G5 programs haven’t given any indication of what the exact amounts of revenue sharing they’ll be doing.

Of the 11 full-member institutions in the Mountain West, it’s likely that 10 of them (all excluding Air Force) will be opting in and paying athletes directly. But with none sharing definite numbers, we turn to speculation. NIL-NCAA.com has offered estimates for NIL collectives in years past, with the site turning its methodology to revenue sharing as well looking ahead to this upcoming season. To that end, these are their estimates for the Mountain West.

Taking these numbers at face value isn’t going to be the best approach, but you can get a good idea. After all, how much money these schools can afford to pay players is going to be based on. The above ranking is pretty much just a knock-on estimate of the revenue rankings for Mountain West teams. Quick disclaimer, these totals are not the entire total of income brought in, just those that contribute to how the revenue sharing cap is generated. Air Force is excluded (just as they were above) due to an expectation that it will not be revenue sharing).

1. UNLV — $29,750,807
2. Boise State — $24,372,780
3. Fresno State — $23,992,615
4. Colorado State — $22,041,323
5. New Mexico — $19,941,247
6. Nevada — $19,890,559
7. Wyoming — $18,676,631
8. San Diego State — $17,693,647
9. Utah State — $12,336,573
10. San Jose State — $9,924,753

As noted, those revenue numbers don’t include things like institutional support and student fees, along with some other miscellaneous revenue. Some power conference teams don’t actually draw on institutional support (or relatively little), but G5 teams very often do, usually to a significant degree. So, looking at the rankings of total revenue is pretty important context.

Here are the total revenues for schools as reported by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, in order of highest revenue to lowest. In parenthesis, there will be a percentage indicating what percent the NIL-NCAA.com estmate is of the total athletics budget of that university.

1. Colorado State — $73,501,380 (10.1%)
2. Boise State — $68,357,435 (11.9%)
3. San Diego State — $65,897,302 (12.2%)
4. UNLV — $64,243,413 (14.5%)
5. Utah State — $55,771,008 (7.6%)
6. Wyoming — $54,832,184 (11.9%)
7. New Mexico — $54,644,322 (11.3%)
8. Fresno State — $54,124,579 (13.6%)
9. Nevada — $53,329,304 (12.0%)
10. San Jose State — $44,239,752 (7.2%)

In the end, these remain simple estimates and what the guesses tell is is that the expectation is for Mountain West teams to spend somewhere around 11-12% of their athletics budget on players. Though these numbers are a bit fuzzy as the percentage was calculated taking the estimated revenue sharing total and the NIL Collective estimate. Whether the funds from collectives are simply absorbed into athletics department revenue is uncertain as the role of these collectives is in a state of flux. 

Entering the 2024 season, it was the first season with the new 12-team College Football Playoff, something that increased by eight from the previous years. One team that was a national darling as a dark horse for the new 12-team CFP going into last season was Virginia Tech.

It was a very doable thing for Brent Pry’s team with a favorable schedule and a ton of retention from the 2023 season. In the end, Virginia Tech had things go south in Week 1 at Vanderbilt, and it spiraled into a 6-6 season, which ended with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl loss to Minnesota.

In April, the disappointing season was a confirmed swing and a miss when the Hokies had five players drafted in the NFL Draft in Green Bay, then a handful more signed undrafted free agent contracts with teams. Now entering a season with a ton of questions after some major roster turnover and coaching changes, anything is possible when the dust settles. However, with so many questions entering the season, the Hokies’ 2025 CFP chances from ESPN’s FPI are somewhat eye-opening.

Virginia Tech football’s 2025 College Football Playoff odds are surprisingly high

ESPN released its preseason Football Power Index (FPI), and Virginia Tech’s odds are higher than you would think. The Hokies’ odds to make the CFP are 12.5%, which, for a team with a lot more questions than answers, is high.

There is no question that the Hokies have some talent returning on both sides of the ball, but if they are going to come anywhere close to these odds, they will need quarterback Kyron Drones to return to the form he had in 2023, and he must remain healthy. Then, as Greg McElroy said, winning one-score games under Pry is a must.

If all of that happens, Virginia Tech could be a very interesting team this season, and unlike last season, they could sneak up on some teams. The CFP might be a reach, but a bowl game is not out of the question. Raise your hand if you saw them having a 12.5% chance of playing in the CFP?

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The College Baseball Foundation, in collaboration with the College Baseball Hall of Fame, announced Monday (June 23) that former University of Michigan coach and Hall of Honor member Ray Fisher will be inducted as a member of its 2025 class.

The 18th induction class will be honored at the 2026 Night of Champions in Overland Park, Kansas, on Feb. 12.

Fisher took over for Carl Lundgren in 1921 and coached the Wolverines for 38 seasons until 1958, when he retired. He holds the Michigan record for overall wins, with 616 total victories — more than 150 ahead of the next closest coach. Fisher guided Michigan to 15 Big Ten titles, one NCAA berth and one national championship.

His accomplishments culminated in 1953, when he led Michigan to a 21-9 record — just the ninth 20-win season in program history. The Wolverines captured their second straight Big Ten title and defeated Ohio in back-to-back games to win the District title. At the College World Series, U-M beat Stanford, Boston College and Texas on consecutive days before dropping a rematch to the Longhorns, setting up a one-game title showdown. Michigan prevailed 7-5 on June 17, 1953, for its first national title.

Fisher’s 38-season tenure is tied for 32nd all-time in NCAA Division I baseball history. He received multiple honors after retiring, including induction into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1959 and selection to the second-ever Michigan Hall of Honor class, joining Fielding Yost.

Fisher will become the sixth Wolverine inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame, tying Michigan for fifth all-time with Southern University for most inductees from one school. Casey Close was the most recent Wolverine to join the Hall in 2022. Jim Abbott, Barry Larkin and George Sisler are enshrined for their playing accomplishments, while U-M’s final inductee is Branch Rickey, who recommended Fisher for the Michigan job and coached the Wolverines from 1910-13.