I am not an accountant either, but after seeing your post, I reached out to a friend of mine, whose son is a D1 player receiving significant revenue sharing/NIL income.

He has confirmed that players receive their income from the universities in a lump sum with nothing withheld. 

In his case, he and his wife made sure that their son had a financial advisor from the first time he received any such income.

But he also says that that is not always the case. His belief is that at the upper echelon of athletes and revenue earners, this is common practice, but not so much for lesser revenue players. 

He says this is a legitimate and serious concern and he feels it’s not uncommon that some of those student athletes may not realize that they need to pay money that wasn’t withheld until they get their first 1099 forms.

My feeling is that this is bordering on malpractice by the university administrators if they don’t provide proper orientation to anyone receiving such income that they should know certain basics.  Interestingly, in his specific case, his son received this kind of guidance from his high school but not from the colleges where he has played

Fascinating topic, and a little scary, especially for those players who find themselves with income early in their academic careers, I mean, athletic careers, and then who fade out. If they were to owe back taxes, they don’t have the next years income to necessarily pay that off.

Last edited by BGF (4/19/2026 5:48 pm)