Arch Manning a Luxury Texas Can Easily Afford
Arch Manning, the latest scion of the football family, will make his first collegiate start when the top-ranked Texas Longhorns host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night. Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli and grandson of Archie, showed why he was the most coveted quarterback recruit of 2023 when he accounted for five touchdowns while subbing for an injured Quinn Ewers last Saturday against the University of Texas at San Antonio.
A player with his pedigree would bring great interest to any program. Yet Manning’s willingness to sit behind Ewers at Texas also made for a fascinating situation in the shadowy world of NIL.
Because of a persistent belief that the Manning name would bring Arch record-breaking NIL riches, the elder Mannings were adamant about setting the record straight about how much Arch actually received. Prior to last year’s Sugar Bowl, Cooper Manning, Arch’s father, called out prior media reports about his son’s NIL earnings when he told Yahoo Sports that “all this NIL stuff is BS. People just make up numbers. Don’t believe what you read.”
While the actual NIL numbers have not been publicly revealed, some of those reports were based on On3’s NIL rankings that claimed Arch as third with a $3.1 million valuation behind only Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter.
One deal of Arch’s that has been reported is with sports collectibles company Panini America, which auctioned an autographed card of his for $60,250. The sophomore donated his proceeds to charity.
Another is with EA Sports, which used Manning’s likeness for its relaunched college football game. Manning initially opted out of having his likeness in the game (and collecting a $600 check along with a copy of the game), but On3 reported that he was included for a far heftier check between $50,000 and $60,000.
Ironically, it’s Ewers, who is projected to be the first quarterback taken in the 2025 NFL draft, who’s actually the cover athlete for EA College Football 25. Ewers also stands fourth in On3’s NIL rankings with $2.2 million. An Ohio State transfer, Ewers supposedly also earned $1.4 million in NIL dollars in 2021 while in Columbus.
That two potential NFL franchise quarterbacks, including one who could be the third-generation star NFL quarterback from a single family, are on the same depth chart is a boon to a Texas program that is making the transition into the talent-rich Southeastern Conference and hasn’t had problems making money despite a lack of national prominence for most of the last 15 years.
As of 2022-23, according to Sportico’s college sports finance database, Texas was second among all public schools in the country behind Ohio State in both total operating expenses ($232,323,521) and generated revenue ($271,129,326). Texas would have been tops in the SEC, ahead of fourth-ranked Alabama in expenses and third-ranked Texas A&M in generated revenue, had the school joined the conference that year.
However, the football program has routinely led the country in generated revenue since at least 2017. Football accounted for over a quarter (26.3%) of Texas’ 2022-23 operating expenses at $61,042,363, which was 11th in the country.
Texas, of course, famously celebrated its arrival into the SEC with a lavish $2.3 million party on campus that included music superstar Pitbull. The Longhorns were former residents of the Big 12 from that conference’s inception in 1994 until this summer.
