Every Power 4 Team Ranked By Estimated Roster Budget; Ohio State, Oregon At Top
Top 6 for my Canes? … I can dig it.
College football roster payrolls have long operated behind a veil of secrecy, leaving fans and analysts to speculate on the true cost of building a team. Over the offseason, The Athletic set out to pierce that fog, publishing a comprehensive breakdown Wednesday that pulls back the curtain on program spending.
Read more Data Center Boom Could Supercharge Blackouts Nationwide By 2030, Pennsylvania Regulators Warn
To establish reliable figures, the outlet gathered assessments from an array of well-placed insiders: the dealmakers facilitating the contracts, the coaching staffs calling the plays on gameday, and the deep-pocketed boosters observing from the suites above. (RELATED: Ohio State Football ‘To Make Some Hard Decisions’ After Embarrassing Collapse Against Texas)
Reporters reached out to representatives at every institution, granting each program a chance to clarify or comment on its figures. While athletic departments routinely keep exact player compensation under wraps — pointing to privacy statutes, local legislation, or tactical advantages — a significant number still chose to weigh in.
Here are the rankings The Athletic came up with, led by Ohio State and Oregon:
- Ohio State ($49-54 million)
- Oregon ($48-54 million)
- Texas ($45-55 million)
- LSU ($47-50 million)
- Texas A&M ($45-50 million)
- Miami ($44-50 million)
- Notre Dame ($41-48 million)
- Ole Miss ($39-45 million)
- Tennessee ($41-43 million)
- Alabama ($38-42 million)
You can see the complete rankings for Power 4 teams’ estimated roster budgets here.
The NIL era stripped away the facade of “amateurism,” and whether traditionalists want to cry about it or not, college football is a pure arms race now.
Read more Fed Raises Rates For First Time In Over 3 Years
You either spend like an NFL franchise or get left behind to rot in mid-tier bowl purgatory.
I’m just happy that my Miami Hurricanes decided to play the game. We chose violence, opened up the checkbook, and put together an elite roster that has us on a path to our first national championship since 2001.
It’s like the legendary Roger Stone once said: “You play by the rules as they’re written. When they change the rules, you change the way you play the game.”
Post Comment