If you’re a Kentucky fan trying to make sense of NIL, revenue sharing, and JMI, you’re not alone. Even the athletic director running the show says it’s “clunky” right now.
Kentucky’s been losing ground with high school basketball recruits like Tyran Stokes and Christian Collins. Recruiting anxiety in BBN is about as high as it’s ever been.
Mitch Barnhart recently sat down with the Lexington Herald-Leader to talk through how Kentucky’s handling this new College Sports Commission / NILGo world. He basically said: yes, it’s confusing; no, Kentucky isn’t just winging it; and he believes the structure he’s built is a strength, not a handicap.
Convincing the fanbase of that? Well, that’s going to take more than words. Recruits need to start showing up.
Understanding the Clunky NIL Landscape
Barnhart calls the current NIL landscape a mashup of two different eras: what happened before July 1, and everything since the House settlement, the College Sports Commission, and NILGo.
Different schools spent money in different ways before July 1. That history affects how much cap space they’ve got now.
Some schools have more room, some have less. That’s why it sometimes looks like everyone’s playing by a different rulebook.
Participation Agreements and Legal Hurdles
Barnhart’s word for the rollout was “clunky.” Not every school has signed the participation agreements yet, and there are rules still tied up in courts and with attorneys general.
There are also 30-day waiting periods for both the House plaintiffs and state AGs before certain policies can take effect. Some rules are live, others are still in the queue.
In the middle of all that, Barnhart keeps circling back to the same idea: Kentucky’s trying to be “steady,” stick to the “guardrails,” and trust that “progress is being made” as the national framework catches up.
NIL Payouts and Their Impact
All NIL deals at Kentucky now run through NILGo. Barnhart said the school’s already processed “several hundred” deals in the system.
Back at the Champions Blue meeting in October, he put the average deal around $3,000, with the biggest close to $50,000. Those numbers, he said, are still “trending in the same way.”
He actually seemed excited talking about Kentucky volleyball. A Final Four run has made that roster more visible in Lexington, and as their “notoriety” has grown, so has their NIL value.
Watching those opportunities grow for non-revenue athletes? That’s something Barnhart genuinely enjoys.
Convincing the Fanbase
For fans who worry Kentucky isn’t doing anything, here’s the counter: NIL deals are happening, and they’re in the seven-figure range across the department.
It’s not just football and men’s basketball. But is that enough to land and keep the top-tier basketball talent BBN expects? So far, it doesn’t look like it.
The JMI Model: A Double-Edged Sword
A big part of the interview was Barnhart defending the JMI model that fans love to hate. His pitch: JMI brings 200-plus corporate partners and a seasoned sales force generating $35–40 million a year in advertising and sponsorships.
Now, that group isn’t just selling Kentucky athletics—they’re matching student-athletes with those brands. From his perspective, that’s a serious head start.
There’s a big, experienced sales staff already on campus, already working with companies that “are very, very interested in your program.” Now they can turn that machine toward NIL.
Marks and Flexibility
One thing that’s confused fans: JMI doesn’t skim a cut off those NILGo deals. There’s no fee, Barnhart said. We’re fee-free.
So what’s the trade-off? Marks and flexibility. If a student-athlete wants to use Kentucky logos and IP in their deals, that goes through JMI.
If they sign with a company competing with a current UK sponsor, Barnhart said they’re “certainly” encouraged to give Kentucky partners first shot, but athletes can still sign outside deals—they just can’t use the marks.
Balancing Revenue Sharing and NIL
Maybe the most interesting bit: Barnhart’s insistence on keeping revenue-sharing numbers private. He pushed back on the idea that it’s about secrecy, calling it “flexibility.”
In his mind, there are two separate buckets: revenue sharing and NIL. He thinks fans and some schools blur those lines by bragging about a big “NIL” number that’s really a mix of both.
Strategic Resource Allocation
He wants the freedom to move resources between those buckets depending on the sport, the year, and the player. Maybe a high-profile recruit is better off with more rev share and less NIL, or the other way around.
Maybe football needs a bigger push one offseason, while basketball doesn’t. Or maybe it swaps the next year.
If he puts hard public numbers on what each program gets, he worries he’ll box himself in and create a circus of fans comparing payouts. That’s not a headache he wants.
The Bigger Picture Vision
Barnhart admitted balancing both football and men’s basketball in this new world is tricky. Before July 1, he says everyone loved the rosters.
After July 1, the math just gets harder for everyone—not only Kentucky. His long-term vision is to use the power of the Kentucky basketball brand to lift everything.
If NIL and rev-share decisions are made wisely, he believes success in men’s hoops and football can raise the tide for baseball, women’s basketball, volleyball, and everyone else.
The Optimistic vs. Pessimistic View
That’s the optimistic version. The pessimistic one? Some fans already feel it: if basketball misses on elite recruits and football falls behind the SEC arms race, nobody gets lifted and everything falls apart.
Barnhart also weighed in on the “general manager” debate around Kentucky basketball. Will Stein came in and immediately wanted a GM for football. Barnhart was fine with that.
For a first-time head coach juggling a new staff, a playoff run, and a roster rebuild, he called it “probably a pretty smart decision.”
Conclusion
Mitch Barnhart’s approach to the NIL and revenue-sharing world is, honestly, a bit of a balancing act. He’s not exactly charging ahead, but he’s not dragging his feet either.
The system right now? It’s messy, maybe even a little frustrating. Still, Barnhart seems to think Kentucky’s more organized style could turn out to be a real advantage.
Convincing fans, though, that’s another story. They’re hungry for top recruits and wins, and it’s tough to say if this method will actually deliver.
For more detailed insights, you can read the full interview on the Wildcat Blue Nation.
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