Auburn is about to break new ground in college football’s NIL era.
The Tigers are expected to share roughly $6 million with players in a deal tied to their appearance in the Aflac Kickoff Game against Baylor on Sept. 5, according to sources with knowledge of the agreement. The arrangement will reach up to 24 Auburn players and includes both marketing obligations and a revenue-sharing piece connected directly to ticket sales.
That revenue component is what makes this more than a standard endorsement setup. For the first time, a neutral-site college football game is folding player compensation into the event itself, giving Auburn players a financial stake in the matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The deal was first announced Monday and runs from July through kickoff. Peach Bowl, Inc. worked with third-party entities to structure the agreement. Players will take part in a slate of “activations” built around the game and its surrounding events, including social media posts, public appearances, advertisements, in-game promotions, media interviews, and signage and branding opportunities.
Auburn was allotted 20,645 tickets for the game as the home team, with most of those tickets included in the school’s season-ticket package. Baylor received 3,000 tickets, the standard amount reserved for a visiting team in an SEC stadium.
“In the new NIL era of college football, this will be an innovative way to create wins for the teams, programs and student-athletes,” said Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO David Epps.
“This new model is a true win-win scenario where Auburn and its student-athletes get a financial boost in the NIL space. At the same time, it's a potential game-changer for neutral-site games like ours who want to bring added value to participating teams and make it a more attractive and lucrative opportunity.”
The setup is already drawing attention beyond this one game. Neutral-site matchups, especially the Labor Day weekend staples, have been losing some of their pull as schools lean harder into home schedules to protect their CFP positioning. A player revenue share could become the kind of incentive that brings those games back into focus.
For Auburn, this will be its fourth appearance in the event, which used to be known as the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. Baylor is making its first trip.
The teams were originally set for a home-and-home series, but they agreed to shift the final game from Auburn to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Auburn beat Baylor 38-24 on the road to open the 2025 season.
Kickoff is set for Sept. 5 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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