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Total Minnesota Gophers MBB RevShare + NIL Budget Revealed for 2025-26
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- Total Minnesota Gophers MBB RevShare + NIL Budget Revealed for 2025-26
Photo courtesy of Gopher Athletics
The Niko Medved era of Minnesota Gophers men's basketball is underway in Dinkytown. Ben Johnson is out, as is pretty much every player he had on roster last season, outside of two freshman , Isaac Asuma (Cherry, MN) and Grayson Grove (Alexandria, MN).
These days, however, patience is not a virtue in college athletics. The transfer portal, combined with the yearly distribution of $100s of millions in Name, Image and Likeness money allows the right coach, in the right situation to turn over a team and change the future faster than ever before.
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That is especially true in basketball, where one or two big time talents can be the difference between dancing and sitting home in March. And there might not be a men's college basketball program and fanbase more desperate to see a change in fortune than the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Gopher Athletics
So, how are the new head coach and his AD going to turn things around in Dinkytown? By infusing it with a bunch of cash to pay players, through (a)an increase in NIL funding , along with (b)new revshare money that is about to flip college sports upside down.
But the question remains… how much money will they really have to spend and will it be competitive in the Big Ten? Well, that picture continues to come more and more into focus.
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Larger than normal revshare split for Minnesota Gophers MBB
On July 1 , all power five universities will get the green light to allocate $20.5 million of their yearly athletic budget to pay their college athletes, however they see fit. Just like most major Universities, the largest split of Minnesota's revshare allowance (75%) will go to football.
But part of luring Niko Medved back to his home state was a commitment from Mark Coyle that the University of Minnesota would allocate more of that revenue split to men's basketball than most other power five schools.
Related: Gophers MBB Searching for Another High Caliber Opponent
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According to Chip Scoggins (Star Tribune) , that commitment means Golden Gophers men's basketball is expected to get 15% of the total $20.5 million, or $3.075 million. That amount alone would be 3X more than the NIL budget Johnson had to spend last year (see below). What's left will be dispersed between women's basketball, men's hockey and volleyball.
Revenue-sharing models with other Big Ten and SEC schools show football taking priority, with 75% or more of the $20.5 million going to football players, a likely percentage for the Gophers…which could mean a 15% allocation of revenue sharing (or $3.075 million) to that sport.
Of the remaining 10% — $2.5 million — 5% is expected to go to women's basketball, while men's hockey and volleyball would split the final 5%.
Niko Medved promises bigger commitment to raising NIL funds
Last year, we know that Ben Johnson's Gophers doled out right around $1 million in total NIL dollars, possibly less, depending on which report you believe. Either way, that number was up substantially from 2023-24. In other words, NIL was a struggle for Johnson from the very beginning.
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Immediately after he was hired, Niko hit the recruiting trail. Not just for talent, but for NIL dollars too. Unlike his predecessor, Niko Medved understands the importance of NIL fundraising. If you don't have money to pay players, you won't be able to bring in talent. It's really that simple.
How much NIL money were Coyle and Medved hoping to raise? In that same Star Tribune article earlier this month, from what Scoggins was hearing via "Gopher officials", it was in the $2-3 million range, depending on how fruitful their fundraising efforts were. The hope was to accumulate $5-6 million for their total player budget next season.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Minnesota Gophers athletics
And, per longtime local columnist Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune) — who would 100% know, based on his many connections within the Gopher men's program — Medved & Co's NIL endeavors have been extremely successful, producing near the peak of projections, or about $3 million.
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Minnesota Gophers new men's basketball player budget revealed
In total, that puts the Minnesota's men's basketball player budget for the 2025-26 season at the high side of previous projections, "in the neighborhood of $6 million", writes Reusse — or 6X more than what Ben Johnson had at his disposal last year.
Medved will turn 52 in August. He has 12 seasons as the coach in charge. He is starting off with those experience advantages over Johnson, and also a program in which the AD is fully invested.
The Gophers now have a marginally competitive amount of dollars to spend on talent — in the neighborhood of $6 million (not stated directly by Medved).
If Reusse is correct (which I trust he is) then after months of talking, it appears both Coyle and Medved have delivered on their promises to infuse Minnesota Gophers basketball with cash that Ben Johnson could never even dream of, just one year ago.
After four years of Big Ten basement dwelling, Coyle hand-picked Medved as the savior of this program. There was no long hiring process , no search firm. Coyle knew who he wanted and he did not hesitate. Now, he has doubled down on that hire with cold hard cash.
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Related: Niko Medved, Gophers Add 4-Star UNC Transfer Commit
As long as the House settlement goes through, as expected on July 1, we should see (in theory) a roster that is 6X better than what we saw out of Gophers basketball teams in recent seasons.
With all that being said, Niko has no excuses at his disposal, even in his first year. He's already been loaded up with far more advantages in today's college sports landscape than the previous coach ever had. Because of that, being new isn't a worthy excuse for failure.
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