When he agreed last June to a four-year contract extension through the 2030 season, Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale received a 14.3% raise in university-paid compensation for this season.
If Arizona is following industry averages, his players might be getting an even bigger percentage raise than that.
For the first time this year, UA baseball and softball players went from being allowed only outside NIL money to also being able to receive school-paid compensation, thanks to the House settlement that was approved last June.
Schools are allowed to pay up to $20.5 million to athletes across all sports, and NIL advisory firm Opendorse says 7.5% of that amount on average goes to sports other than football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball — or a total of about $1.5 million.
It's unclear if Arizona is following that pattern, nor how much exactly is filtering to its baseball and softball teams.
While Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois has said UA is paying players the full $20.5 million in what is called "revenue-sharing," the school won’t say how much it is paying individual players, nor even the percentages of that $20.5 million revenue-sharing pie that each sport is receiving.
The outside NIL packages that can significantly balloon roster budgets, even if run through UA as they can now be, are also not public. Under an Arizona law that went into effect last May, UA doesn't have to consider athletes employees nor release their compensation packages to public-records requests.
But NIL advisory firm Opendorse has released selective data it has compiled from NIL payments, disclosures and budgets via public release and via its subscription “Market Intel” tool.
Additionally, Texas Tech provided another window of insight when it announced the percentages of the $20.5 million pool it will pay each program. Texas Tech said it will pay its baseball team 1.9% of the $20.5 million maximum, or about $400,000.
Texas Tech lumped softball in with all sports other than football, baseball and basketball that will collectively receive less than $1 million, suggesting its softball team is probably receiving less money than its baseball team from the school.
But Red Raiders softball pitcher NiJaree Canady single-handedly boosted the softball roster's overall compensation considerably when she received a reported $1 million in booster-paid NIL during the 2025 season — and did so again this season when she signed another seven-figure deal, according to what her agent told ESPN.
Canady is way above the norm, however. Braly Keller, Opendorse’s director of collegiate services and insights, said pitchers and utility players are often in the highest-earning groups, but that the top players in college baseball are paid between $230,000-$350,000 while those in softball can earn in the $35,000-$55,000 range.
Overall, school-paid and outside NIL funds are allowing upper-echelon baseball teams to have roster budgets of about $1 million-$3 million, while top softball team rosters are paid between $500,000-$1 million, Keller said.
Arizona pitcher Tony Pluta celebrates after securing the final out vs. TCU in the 2025 Big 12 Baseball Championship. While UA won't say how much it is paying players, Opendorse says top college baseball players can earn well into the six figures.
Those total roster budgets can often contain up to 70% from outside sources, and the rest from school-paid funds, though he declined to detail any further. Budgets can vary considerably for a number of reasons, he said.
“There is more variance in baseball and softball than arguably any other sport because most schools feel the responsibility to fund them in some manner,” Keller said, “but few prioritize it enough to pour big time money into it.”
Arizona is in a tricky spot. Unlike many high-major athletic departments, where football is the highest-profile and commands the vast majority of school and outside funds, Arizona has strong traditions in men’s basketball, baseball and softball that suggest those sports would push for a bigger share of the pie.
But, in general, baseball and softball players are making the most where the weather is warm, and fan interest is high.
“It won't surprise you, but the SEC is a clear frontrunner in baseball and softball," Keller said in an email. "Regionally (like on-field success often shows), the U.S. South leads the way.”
