Texas A&M NIL Report Reveals Massive Gender Gap in $51.4M Payouts
Texas A&M revealed through an open records request that during the 2024-2025 academic year $51.4 million in NIL compensation was distributed to their athletes. However, of that large sum, only 4 percent or $2.2 million went to women athletes.
Texas A&M, a firm Power4 institution playing in one of the most prestigious NCAA conferences in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has seen their NIL earnings more than double every year since 2021.
The jump from 2023-2024 was over $31 million.
However, could this be a larger equity and Title IX issue, as $48.3 million went to the Aggies' male athletes, whereas a mere $2.2 million went to female athletes?
Texas A&M student-athletes received a combined $51.4 million in NIL compensation from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, according to figures received through open records .
— Alex Miller (@AlexMill20) July 21, 2025
Men's sports received a combined $49.2M. Women's sports received a combined $2.2M:https://t.co/s4MkFPBc1x
There is an argument to be made here.
Texas A&M is a public institution that receives federal aid and assistance; thus, they are beholden to the rules and regulations involved in Title IX. At this point, there is no indication of whether women athletes at A&M will be seeking legal counsel or the courts to attain more NIL or revenue share money, but other women athletes across the country have already begun challenging the House Settlement.
Additionally, the SCORE Act proposed in the House of Representatives could have implications for NIL and the House Settlement.
Again, the most recent House Settlement also means revenue share distributions will begin at institutions like Texas A&M.
The Aggies and their athletic department have already determined that football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball will be the sports receiving $18 million in revenue share.
For softball fans, and specifically Texas A&M softball fans, it is encouraging to see that Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts has indicated softball will be a sport compensated in this new era, as the team last year won a share of the SEC regular season title and a No. 1 ranking.
Allison Smith is an expert in leadership and organizational behavior in collegiate and professional women’s sports. Smith is a professor (Georgia State University), researcher, and writer. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Smith’s research centers on combatting the underrepresentation of women leaders in sport, lack of organizational structure for work life integration for sport employees, and lack of programming and oversight for preparing athletes to transition to life after sport. Since graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism in 2011, Smith has sought opportunities to write about sports as a contributing writer focused on the growth of women’s collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports in this new age and movement for multiple outlets including Athletic Director U, and now Forbes.com. As a former Division I and II pitcher and Division III pitching coach Smith will bring unique insight and expertise to Softball on SI.
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