Manning Money-Making Machine 2.0

Arch Manning is reportedly the highest-valued NIL athlete in college sports at $6.8M

August 29, 2025

Arch Manning Reportedly Now College Sports’ Highest-Valued NIL Athlete at $6.8M
The “flurry of high-dollar NIL deals” that have come Texas QB Arch Manning’s way as he assumes a starting position this season make him the “highest valued college athlete in the country,” with On3 putting his worth at $6.8M, according to Dana Hunsinger Benbow of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR via SBJ.

Manning has “struck a major NIL coup” with Red Bull, with the “lucrative” deal being announced in January. Just two months later, Uber released a “comical commercial” of Manning with his grandfather and former NFLer Archie Manning.
^{Indianapolis Star via Sports Business Journal}

How NFL Teams and Owners Make Their Money
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “The average NFL franchise is worth $7.13 billion, per Sportico’s NFL team valuations. That figure is up 20% over 2024 and double the average from four years ago. The league’s evenly distributed central revenue means every team is worth at least $5.5 billion. There are only 14 non-NFL sports franchises in the world worth more than the 32nd-ranked Cincinnati Bengals.

“In 2024, NFL teams received nearly $14 billion, or $433 million apiece, from leaguewide media, sponsorship, licensing and merchandise deals, which represented 62% of total team revenues.”
^Sportico

ESPN Replaces Doris Burke With Tim Legler for NBA Finals Coverage
ESPN has demoted basketball analyst Doris Burke from its lead broadcast team just months after she called her second NBA Finals. In announcing its NBA broadcast plans for the upcoming season, ESPN said Thursday that Tim Legler would be joining its lead team of play-play-play announcer Mike Breen, analyst Richard Jefferson and reporter Lisa Salters. It also said that team would also be calling next June’s NBA Finals on ABC, along with the conference finals and other high-profile games during the playoffs and regular season.
^{AP News}

FuboTV Launching ‘Fubo Sports’ Skinny Bundle
FuboTV on Sept. 2 will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny content service that will offer consumers a focused sports option at a lower price. The standalone plan will have 20+ sports and broadcast networks featuring national and local pro and college team coverage.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Ravens Complete $20M Overhaul to Practice Facility
The Ravens recently completed a more than $20M “overhaul of their practice facility that team officials think could give them an edge when signing free agents,” according to Garrett Dvorkin of the BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL via SBJ. The team and contractor Whiting-Turner “spent the offseason building a new 20,000-square-foot sports training facility equipped with recovery and rehabilitation areas, doctors’ offices and a hydrotherapy suite featuring saunas, steam rooms and a 15-meter, two-lane pool.”
^{Baltimore Business Journal via Sports Business Journal}

Nike to Lay Off About 1% of Corporate Staff in its Latest Effort to Refocus the Business
CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge reports: “Nike is planning another round of layoffs as part of CEO Elliott Hill’s efforts to realign the business and get it back to growth, CNBC has learned. The cuts will impact less than 1% of Nike’s corporate staff. It’s unclear how many jobs will be impacted. Nike’s EMEA and Converse businesses will not be impacted.”
^CNBC

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Deion Sanders Calls for Paying Players Who Reach the Playoff and Saban Supports the Proposal
AP News’ Eddie Pells writes, “Leave it to Deion Sanders to come up with an idea for the College Football Playoff that nobody has really mentioned yet: Pay the players for making the tournament, and pay them more when their teams win.

“If they do that, then ‘now it’s equality, now it’s even and every player is making the same amount of money,’ the Colorado coach said.”
^{AP News}

Sources: EA Sports College Basketball Video Game Talks Hit Snag
SBJ’s Ben Portnoy writes, “Discussions involving EA Sports, the Collegiate Licensing Company and the NCAA, among others, around a reboot of a college basketball franchise have hit a snag due to deals individual schools are weighing with rival video game publishing label 2K Sports for a separate product, multiple sources familiar with the talks told Sports Business Journal.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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