Oklahoma NIL collective distributes $32 million in payments

The 1Oklahoma NIL collective has distributed $32 million in payments to athletes, according to a University of Oklahoma Board of Regents agenda for September. Specifics on when payments were made or over what span of time were not provided.

For reference, the top college football rosters now cost north of $20 million. Texas A&M athletes reported a total of $51.4 million in NIL deals for the 2024-25 school year, with 96% of the funds allocated to men’s sports.

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Oklahoma has ramped up its NIL operations in recent years. The 1Oklahoma booster-driven NIL collective took center stage as the go-to OU collective last summer ahead of the school’s move to the SEC. It was the first time the Sooners threw the full weight of their brand behind an NIL collective. The move brought together the Crimson and Cream, The Sooner Nation Collective and 1 Oklahoma Collective. After jousting for funding, all efforts are consolidated under one umbrella.

Oklahoma previously announced football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball and women’s gymnastics would take a portion of rev-share. Roughly $12 to $13 million is allocated for football.

The Sooners were aggressive in the transfer portal this offseason, landing highly-touted Washington State quarterback John Mateer out of the transfer portal. OU opened the season with a win over Illinois State last weekend and hosts Michigan on Saturday night.

OU coach Brent Venables took a $1 million pay cut in 2025, according to a report by USA Today. Venables was set to make $8.55 million this year. Now, he will make $7.55 million. According to the report, this reduction was “initiated by Coach Venables as a one-time give-back to contribute to the department’s revenue-sharing efforts,” an Oklahoma athletics department spokesman told USA Today.

“It really shows a lot of leadership on Brent’s part,” OU athletics director Joe Castiglione recently told SoonerScoop. “He came forward with the idea, knowing there were needs for our program. He wanted to help. He recognized the need to retain players already on our roster and those we needed to recruit, and he wanted to help participate in the revenue-sharing formula going forward.”

Oklahoma’s athletic department showed a revenue of roughly $107.4 million on June 30, roughly $12 million less than the revenue reported on June 30, 2024. According to the Board of Regents’ agenda, the decrease is linked to conference distribution with the move from the Big 12 to the SEC. The decrease is also reported to be partially offset by an $8 million increase in athletic ticket sales.