How expensive is this Kentucky roster? New payroll, rev-share estimates are out

Mark Pope joked his second roster at Kentucky had a payroll of “close to $200 million,” deflecting on specifics while later confirming he’s comfortable spending big on players — because the winningest program in the history of college basketball deserves the best at everything.

“Put NIL, put the transfer portal on the list,” he said. “Our job is to go be the best at everything. We’re not shying away from that. It’s important to us.”

$20 million has been the rumored number for the Wildcats all offseason with multiple confirmations that, at minimum, Kentucky would have the most expensive roster in the country in 2025-26. Now, the Herald-Leader is not only doubling down on those claims, but they’re also reporting that the total actually exceeds anything you’ve seen up to this point.

“The payroll number for the UK basketball team this season is around $22 million, the Herald-Leader has been told,” Ben Roberts wrote in a piece published Thursday morning. “That was the number as of the finalization of the House settlement, which set guidelines for what constitutes legal payments to players moving forward, so it’s likely the collective total for the Cats will rise with any legitimate name, image and likeness deals that come their way during the 2025-26 season.”

Whoa.

It adds up, knowing the big-name acquisitions and returning talent this offseason, headlined by SEC Preseason Player of the Year Otega Oweh. He actually said it wouldn’t shock him if the $20M number was real this summer, as you may recall.

“I feel like it could be, you know?”

Now, the HL is reporting that it is, adding that the payroll is over double what the Wildcats were expecting to pay this season and last year’s total for Pope’s debut roster in Lexington. It’s also over five times more expensive than John Calipari’s final roster at Kentucky, which cost less than $4 million overall — one that included five top-40 recruits and two top-10 draft selections.

“It went through the roof,” one source told Roberts of the increase from a projected total of just over $10M to $22M.

“It just became a massive bidding war among everybody,” another source added.

Think that $4 million total is wild for Coach Cal’s last run with the Wildcats? How about spending more than that for one top-tier player this past cycle?

“The asking price for one elite player nationally this season — a number that made the rounds in college basketball circles and the Herald-Leader verified with multiple sources — was $5 million,” Roberts writes. “That’s an extreme example, but it’s not substantially more than a lot of other high-profile players around the country will be making this season.

“Simply do the math on Kentucky’s expected payroll — around $22 million, with 14 scholarship-level players on the roster — and you’ll have a good indication of what is possible in the current market, even for players who aren’t high-major starters.”

Elsewhere, Roberts added clarity on the revenue-sharing splits, with many schools using a standard breakdown of 75% to football, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to other sports.

While it’s not the 45% to men’s basketball that Matt Norlander of CBS Sports put out there in July, it’s still substantially more than Kentucky’s peers in the SEC.

“The true number is closer to 25-30%, according to conversations within the department, which is likely still tops in the SEC and in the running for the highest share among men’s basketball programs in power conferences nationally,” Roberts reports.

Considering the $20.5 million rev-share cap for all schools, that would give Pope and the Wildcats between $5.13 million and $6.15 million to work with for the 2025-26 season.

These updates are a part of a must-read Q&A piece from Ben Roberts for the Herald-Leader, one breaking down “how Kentucky basketball is benefiting from the massive changes to NIL rules.”

How are the players getting paid? Will the numbers keep going up? How do you determine fair market value? What are agents’ roles in all of this? How is JMI doing running the show for UK with NIL? Is Kentucky better or worse off because of it all?

Take your time digging into the nuts and bolts on this beautiful Thursday. It’s truly excellent reporting and deserves your attention.

(Herald-Leader)