The Name, Image and Likeness effort to generate money for University of Minnesota men’s basketball is positive under new head coach Niko Medved who was hired in March.
Dinkytown Athletes, the entity that creates and develops NIL opportunities for Gopher athletes with businesses and sponsors, is led by co-founder and president Derek Burns. He told Sports Headliners NIL revenue raised for men’s basketball players is “significantly ahead” of a year ago.
This is the third offseason DA has worked on NIL resources and Burns said money available for the 2025-2026 school year is “by far” ahead of previous totals. Like other collectives around the country, DA doesn’t make public the total NIL revenue it has. Such information can create a competitive disadvantage with rival schools, collective executives maintain.
However, it’s believed former Gopher men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson had a seven-figure amount of NIL money last school year, but the total was under $2 million. It could be (based on background work by Sports Headliners) that in Medved’s first year the total will be between $3 million to $4 million. Athletes are paid at Minnesota and elsewhere to make appearances, endorse products or services and appear in advertising.
Medved, who coached Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years, is a Minnesota native. He was a student manager for the Gophers in the 1990s and has a passion for the program that hit hard times under Johnson, partially because of minimal NIL money.
The personable Medved knows a rebuild is in front of him. He’s been using his determination and salesmanship with donors to build up NIL support. Burns said Medved has “been very effective and well received.”
Part of the fund-raising strategy uses donors of means to engage in matching campaigns. Medved wants, of course, to avoid as much as possible not being priced out for players in recruiting against other programs.
Of developing significance is that Big Ten athletic departments and other major conferences are expected to soon receive court approval to share revenues with athletes. The cap could be $20.5 million per school the first year, with the Gophers expected to allocate for five sports with football receiving more than half the total and men’s basketball being second in the pecking order.
Even with revenue sharing, NIL will remain in play. It figures to make a difference as seen frequently in news reporting about college basketball and football.
Kyan Evans, one of Medved’s best players last season, was wanted in Dinkytown but the junior guard chose North Carolina where he reportedly will have a more than $2 million NIL deal.
Orono High School guard Noah Groves, the state’s player of the year, committed to Texas Tech last week, a program where his agent has relationships. The Red Raiders took Gopher point guard Elijah Hawkins a year ago. Tech is known for its NIL success in football and basketball, and is reportedly paying hoopster JT Toppin around $4 million in NIL money to return to the Red Raiders.
Medved has so far brought in five transfer players. Only state native BJ Omot from Cal is from a Power Four conference, an indication of limitations in NIL funding at Minnesota.
That doesn’t mean those transfers won’t help the Gophers, with some even excelling. On3 uses an algorithm to determine whether a program has improved its roster talent, stayed the same or declined during the transfer window. Minnesota is ranked No. 25 in the nation by On3 after determining an improved roster.
NIL monies have reportedly increased nationally, although Burns cautions he knows figures are frequently exaggerated not only in basketball but in football, too. A point of differentiation for the Gophers is that unlike some schools Minnesota has a reputation of making good on its NIL commitments, not reneging.
Still, it’s bizarre to hear some of the reports about NIL money just for men’s basketball. Former Marquette, Indiana and Georgia head coach Tom Crean, talking to Dan Barreiro on KFAN last week, put the number in the 50s of college programs with $9 million war chests, he believes.
College basketball authority Evan Miyakawa, writing last week on X, guesstimated the top spenders this offseason on basketball transfers is led by Michigan at $8.8 million, Kentucky, $7.6 million, Maryland and Miami at $7.1 million each, and Iowa at $6.6 million.
Absent from Miyakawa’s top 10 list was St. John’s where coach Rick Pitino has a billionaire booster who is willing to pay whatever it takes to have the Red Storm at national prominence.
Believe Miyakawa’s figures at your discretion, but no one can doubt NIL money is big business.
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