How Iowa Football Plans To Allocate Its Revenue Sharing 'Salary Cap'

The Iowa Hawkeyes and the world of college sports in general are about to enter a new era.

The NIL and transfer portal era shook things up in such a way that some structure was needed. That structure has come in the form of what is essentially a "salary cap" for each school that will allow the athletic department to pay its players directly.

Starting in the 2025-26 academic year, each school will have $20.5 million that it can use to pay its student athletes alongside NIL deals. That money will be used across sports, though Chad Leistikow of Hawk Central is reporting that the consensus around those "in the know" is that roughly 75% of that $20.5 million is going to end up going to the football program.

It makes sense, too, because football is the leading revenue generator in college athletics.

Doing the math, that would mean the Hawkeyes will have a "salary cap" of $15 million to divide amongst their 105 football players. If it was an even breakdown, each player would receive roughly $142,000 annually, but Leistikow is reporting that Iowa is going to take more of an NFL approach to "salary" allocation.

What that means is that more important players to the overall success of the team — the quarterback, lineman, edge rushers — will get bigger slices of the pie compared to, let's say, the third string linebacker.

"Our best, most productive players and top leaders on the team are going to make the most money," General Manager Tyler Barnes told Hawk Central in a recent radio appearance.

"Iowa has studied NFL models of payment and believes spending heavily on the starting quarterback and in the trenches — the offensive and defensive lines — will be its best approach," Leistikow wrote.

It makes sense to use the money to keep the top players engaged and happy, especially in a college football environment where the transfer portal is always open and other schools are always eying players they can poach.

Iowa has always been an "NFL-light" program anyhow. Few schools can boast the NFL pipeline that the Hawkeyes can. With that in mind, using an NFL model towards money allocation is simply the next natural step.