How much has Mark Cuban donated to Indiana? Explaining billionaire's NIL funding under Curt Cignetti

How much has Mark Cuban donated to Indiana? Explaining billionaire's NIL funding under Curt Cignetti originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

There are expected to be several celebrities on-hand for Monday night's CFP national championship. One of those expected to attend is Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban. 

Cuban, who is a billionaire, attended school at Indiana in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and he has also donated to both Indiana athletics and the school itself. Cuban was on-hand for Indiana's 56-22 victory over Oregon in the Peach Bowl semifinal. 

Let's take a look at Cuban's history with Indiana and more about his financial contributions to the school and athletic programs. 

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How much money did Mark Cuban give to Indiana?

While there aren't exact dollar amounts for every donation Cuban has made to Indiana, some have been made public. In Dec. 2024, Cuban made a $6 million donation over three years to support the Hoosier Rugby program. In 2015, he donated $5 million for a new sports media center at IU. 

As far as some of his other donations go, he has already helped in Indiana's 2026 transfer portal class. Earlier this month, he told Front Office Sports he was "already committed" for the transfer portal class: 

Cuban clarified that he lets athletic director Scott Dolson decide what to do with the money, and didn’t say precisely how much he gave.

“Let’s just say they are happier this year than last year,” Cuban wrote.

In October 2025, Cuban told CBS Sports that he gave a "big number" to the IU athletic department. 

"I gave some to sports this year for the first time ever," Cuban told CBS Sports. "Typically, I was the exact opposite. I'm not a fan of anything that I believe raises tuition in the least bit. But after getting to talk to Cig and seeing what was going on, they kinda talked me into it."

CBS added that when Cuban and Cignetti met, the two learned that they were both born in the same hospital outside Pittsburgh. 

"It just came up somehow in conversation," Cuban told The Sporting News via email. " When you hear a Pittsburgh, yinzer accent, it's an immediate connection. Pittsburgh people just know. We started talking and it came up."

The two are just three years apart, with Cuban being 61 and Cignetti 64. 

"We both grew up blue collar," Cuban said of him and the Indiana coach. "Hard working families that instilled in us to accomplish anything you have to work at it.  I think that's a characteristic we both share."

Cuban's donation to the 2026 transfer portal has seemingly already paid off. Indiana landed TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, Tulane receiver Shazz Preston and Michigan State receiver Nick Marsh. The Hoosiers' transfer portal class currently ranks No. 6 in the nation. 

Indiana's roster has a drastic lack of highly-rated recruits, compared to Miami's.  

"I look at it as a feature of Coach Cig, or let's call him CigGPT's unique approach," Cuban said of Cignetti's philosophy on recruiting. Along with [Indiana] athletic director Scott Dolson, to building a roster, team and organization.. Some teams try to "win the portal" by chasing the highest ranked recruits, trying to outbid everyone. CigGPT on the other hand, as he says, values 'Production over Potential'." 

MORE:Inside the special moment Indiana's Curt Cignetti will never forget

Where did Mark Cuban go to college?

Cuban started his college education at University of Pittsburgh before he even completed his senior year of high school. He then transferred to Indiana, and graduated in 1981. 

When did Mark Cuban go to Indiana?

Mark Cuban was at Indiana in the late 1970s until he graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981. According to a 2007 article from the IU business school, he picked the school in Bloomington because it had the least expensive tuition in the top-10 ranked business schools. 

"It was true," Cuban told Business Insider of his decision to attend IU over money. "I could barely afford IU."

To pay for his tuition, he had to get creative. He used things like disco lessons and a chain letter to help pay for his tuition. He even made enough money to open a Bloomington bar before he graduated. Via the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: 

Cuban once set up a chain letter, which paid for one semester's tuition at Indiana University. He gave disco lessons to sorority girls for $25 an hour.

In 1981, while wrapping up his bachelor's degree in business, Cuban opened a pub in Bloomington, Ind., called Motley's. It quickly became a popular hangout for both students and professors.

"It was definitely the best bar in town," said Wayne Winston, who taught Cuban a statistics course at Indiana. "I don't think I've had a student since who's started a business while they were in school."

"I learned how to learn," Cuban said of his time at IU. "I learned that curiosity is something that has continued to drive me. And I learned to take chances and deal with the consequences, good and bad. Best move I've ever made." 

In the mid-1990s, Cuban even went into business with a fellow IU alumnus, Todd Wagner. The two founded Audionet, which later became Broadcast.com in the early 1990s. The company is believed to be one of the first Internet radio and streaming companies. 

MORE:Roster breakdown: How Hoosiers' roster without a 5-stars compares to Hurricanes' blue chip factory

Indiana NIL budget 2025 

College football programs do not formally report how much they spend on roster-building, so a lot of the reported estimates are just that—estimates that should be taken with a grain of salt. 

For the Hoosiers, one estimate, via NIL-NCAA, of Indiana's 2025 roster is $21.1 million. A 2024 estimate from 247Sports of the Hoosiers' NIL spending for 2025 was around $13.6.

There's no question the Hoosiers have successfully utilized the transfer portal—most notably landing Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. Indiana has also added portal players like former Maryland running back Roman Hemby and JMU transfer Kaelon Black.

When Curt Cignetti first arrived at Indiana in 2024, he brought in several former JMU players, including receiver Elijah Sarrat, linebacker Aiden Fisher, and defensive back D’Angelo Ponds.

"He knows that to put together the team he wants he needs players that know how to play," Cuban said of Indiana's roster. "Having demonstrated it on the field, can learn his system, and know their roles as players. 

He layers on top of that coaches that are perfect for his system. They can take players who have high Football IQs, teach them the system and the result is what we have seen. IU fans are proud of not just the results, but the fact that Cig did it his way. He was innovative.  He kind of reminds us of Bobby Knight. too."  

Fernando Mendoza NIL deal

Obviously one of the biggest transfer portal additions last offseason for Indiana was in Mendoza. The former two-star recruit started his career at Cal before transferring to the Hoosiers. He has thrown for 3,349 yards with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions, while becoming the school's first-ever Heisman winner. 

"I don't try to predict how players will turn out," Cuban said of his investment in the portal. That's up to Cig and Scott. I know they know what they are doing. They have a system that is differentiated and to speak in entrepreneurial terms, it's given them a moat. They truly approach team building like entrepreneurs. Find your advantages and run with them. I truly respect and appreciate that."

On3's NIL roster valuation puts Mendoza at $2.6 million. The quarterback has NIL deals with Adidas, Dr. Pepper, T-Mobile and Royal Canin.   

Mark Cuban net worth

According to Forbes, Cuban has a net worth of $6 billion.t is an accumulation of a long list of diverse business interests.

How did Mark Cuban make his money?

Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas in 1982. After getting fired from his salesperson job at Your Business Software, he founded MicroSolutions with his former customer base. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems, and it grew to $30 million in revenue. In 1990, he sold the company to CompuServe for $6 million. 

In 1999, Cuban sold his aforementioned company, Broadcast.com to Yahoo! which earned him $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock. He worked with Goldman Sachs and hedged against those shares, which ended up protecting him during the .com crash of 2000.  

Cuban is best known for his roles with the Dallas Mavericks, which he purchased a majority stake for $285 million in 2000. He also has been an investor on the show "Shark Tank" since 2011.

He is the co-founder of several other companies, such as AXS TV & Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment, and Cost Plus Drugs. 

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