As Texas football continues to surge, it braces itself for the high-powered 2025 season. The school has taken another key step in the NIL era by launching a new initiative to support its student-athletes.
Teaming up with Learfield’s Longhorn Sports Properties, the school has introduced the Longhorn Sports Agency (LSA), a centralized platform aimed at helping Texas athletes secure brand deals, develop their brands, and tell their stories across multiple media channels.
The Longhorns finished the 2024 season with a strong 13-3 overall record, but fell short of the national title champions, Ohio State, 28-14 in the CFP semifinals. By all means, that success has only intensified the spotlight and hype around star players like QB Arch Manning, who is quickly becoming a household name in college football.
Texas Leads NIL Era With Game-Changing Support for Athletes
The creation of this agency marks a key step in the university’s push to remain at the forefront of NIL innovation, particularly as changes in college athletics accelerate across the country.
Announcing Longhorn Sports Agency, our innovative and unified NIL initiative! 🤘https://t.co/tmJZQwLJrX pic.twitter.com/X98NZp1WPA
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) June 30, 2025
“Everything we do at Texas is about setting a high standard, and NIL is no different,” UT Vice President and Lois and Richard Folger Athletics Director Chris Del Conte said in a statement released by the university.
“The Longhorn Sports Agency reflects our commitment to building an industry-leading infrastructure that supports our student-athletes and strengthens the Texas brand. This initiative is about doing NIL the right way, with intention, innovation, and the full backing of our partner, Learfield, who knows how to achieve excellence in NIL.”
The agency will be staffed with NIL-focused executives, including a Director of NIL Business Development, an Associate of Business Development, and an NIL Marketing Partnership Manager to help the athletes.
These professionals will work alongside on-campus content teams to develop customized campaigns that aim to elevate the personal brands of Texas athletes.
This well-guided move by the university lands just weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 126, a law that aligns the state with recent national developments in college athletics.
The legislation allows schools in Texas to pay athletes directly and extends NIL eligibility to certain high school players aged 17 and up.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed HB 126 into law, which allows colleges in the state to directly pay athletes in line with the House v. NCAA settlement.
It also means high school athletes who are 17 and older can sign NIL deals.https://t.co/MWpkKtzDwH pic.twitter.com/8h59L721GR
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) June 5, 2025
According to Learfield, the goal is to provide student-athletes with both structure and scalability as they navigate NIL opportunities.
“With the House settlement and the current landscape of college athletics, it’s critical to accelerate innovation,” said Solly Fulp, Executive VP of NIL Growth & Development at Learfield. “By employing Learfield Impact, the Longhorn Sports Agency will unify resources and streamline access for brands to connect with Longhorn student-athletes in powerful, authentic ways.”
The agency will be led by Lucas Motta, Vice President of Longhorn Sports Properties. His team will work closely with both Texas Athletics and the school’s content networks to produce storytelling content, execute brand deals, and develop strategic influencer marketing campaigns.
Under the House v. NCAA settlement, schools will be permitted to pay up to $20.5 million annually to athletes starting in 2025, effectively institutionalizing NIL within revenue-sharing models.
In response to the financial demands, Del Conte announced an increase in football season ticket prices by $13 per game in February.
Meanwhile, Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian recently rebuffed speculation about the university’s NIL spending after another report from The Houston Chronicle.
Salary cap? Texas Longhorns will spend between $35-40 million on their football roster for 2025 https://t.co/yRW7pnXEYq via @houstonchron
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) April 30, 2025
“What’s frustrating on that was it was a little bit of irresponsible reporting. It was one anonymous source saying that that’s what our roster was. I wish I had 40 million on our roster. We’d probably be a little bit better team than we are, “Sarkisian said, referencing reports of inflated spending figures.
“It was a little bit of irresponsible reporting… I wish I had 40 million on our roster, we’d probably be a little bit better.”
@CoachSark talked about the report regarding the cost of his roster at #SECSpringMeetings!
@PeterBurnsESPN | @ChrisDoering | @JacobHester18 pic.twitter.com/0DZelKr9SK— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) May 27, 2025
“This this whole like the evolution of Twitter and social media and podcasts, one guy writes an article from an anonymous source that says that’s what our roster is, everybody runs with it, and I’m talking real publications ran with it,” he added. “And it was like, that’s what’s going on at Texas, nobody asked me one question. If that’s what you think, that’s fine. That’s the narrative you want to paint for our team, that’s fine.”
Even though that report claimed huge numbers, which Sarkisian ridiculed, the fact is that as the college sports landscape rapidly shifts, Texas is positioning itself not just to adapt but to lead.
The Longhorn Sports Agency may well become a model for how large programs manage the evolving demands of NIL while maintaining compliance and visibility for their athletes in the new era of college football.
