More than one might think. One of the weakest critiques of allowing pay for college athletes (whether through NIL rights or other means) is the idea that “only a few would profit.” This is a bizarre argument, for two reasons:

1. It’s not actually an argument against allowing people to profit from their labor.
2. It’s not true. As Brandon Kochkodin writes for Bloomberg:

Assuming college football and men’s basketball players in the so-called Power Five conferences were able cash in on their abilities, each would receive $360,000 and $500,000 per season, respectively. Those figures are extrapolated by applying the approximate 50/50 revenue split between players and ownership in the NFL and NBA.

Full article here, with more details on the research study informing the article, as well as how much more top athletes might receive.