Stoops: Kentucky Football Will Be Competitive in the SEC in Revenue-Sharing

The revenue-sharing era of college football officially kicked off on July 1 with the certification of the House settlement. We know that schools will directly pay players, starting with approximately $20 million in the first fiscal year, but the devil is in the details, and we don’t know many of the specifics about what will happen at the University of Kentucky.

Matt Norlander inadvertently created a huge stink around Big Blue Nation when the CBS Sports reporter shared intel from the Peach Jam that Kentucky basketball was receiving 45% of this year’s allotment, three times what most SEC schools are expected to budget. Even though multiple reports refuted that number, fans spent the following days debating how much money the Kentucky basketball and football teams should receive from the school.

At his season-opening press conference, Mark Stoops was directly asked if the Kentucky football program will receive enough revenue-sharing money to be competitive in the SEC.

“It is,” Stoops said. “It excites me, because I feel like for the first time, I just feel like we’re going to be in a position to hopefully be on equal playing ground with everybody. That hasn’t always happened. I’m not throwing any shade anywhere, it’s just true, right?

He continued, “I don’t have to feel funny talking about money anymore. I mean, it’s just part of it, a part of all college sports. It’s been a tough time, but I don’t like talking about that, because it feels like an excuse. It just is what it is. Man, it’s gone.

“But I do feel like, as we move forward, with the support of the administration, in particular as we guided through this year, and where we’re going in the future, I really feel like we could be put in a position to be on really good ground. I haven’t always felt that way, so that excites me. I feel like we, as we move forward, these past two, three years have been rough. I really feel like we’re in a position next two, three years to really be in a good position.”

In short, there’s going to be more money in the Banana Stand than ever before. Kentucky had enough in its NIL coffers to land a transfer portal class ranked No. 10 in the country by 247 Sports. The 2026 high school recruiting class was the first to rely on revenue-sharing, and Stoops likes the early returns.

“I’ve been very optimistic, because I feel like now you’re somewhat — we feel like there’s some outliers out there — but you’re working within a cap. You have a fighting chance, if there’s some semblance of a cap, if you will. And so I feel like that has given us a good fighting chance, and I’m very pleased with the way this cycle is going for recruiting. When we sign ’em in December, I love the way that’s going,” said Stoops.

Even though the details of Kentucky’s revenue-sharing plans are sparse, it’s clear the head football coach is confident the Wildcats can make it work.