LSU Tigers One Of Seven Teams With $40 Million Roster This Season

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The LSU Tigers had a busy offseason of restructuring their entire roster ahead of Lane Kiffin's first season, and it did not come cheap in the slightest. The expectations are for them to compete for a College Football Playoff right away, and they paid a lot of money to make sure they had the talent to make up for it being the first season of a new regime.

CBS Sports' Chris Hummer and John Talty recently released the results of a poll of over 50 people with an understanding of the industry, to see which were the most expensive rosters. While there aren't exact numbers given because the public will not know for sure, at least as of now, there is an estimate.

LSU and the seven other Tier 1 teams come in at over $40 million. The Tigers are joined by the following blue-blood programs: Miami Hurricanes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies.

While these spots weren't necessarily ranked in order of how much each roster actually was within the tiers, LSU was the top team listed, and one SEC front office employee was quoted as saying, "LSU is almost in a tier of its own this year." It's safe to say the Tigers could even be well above $40 million. That's what it takes to end up with the top transfer portal class along with a top high school class these days.

This is the reason that Kiffin came to LSU over staying with the Rebels, who were in the tier below the Tigers. They are still paying tens of millions of dollars, but they are a team with a bigger brand and more resources to land top talent.

LSU's "big price tag" player that was listed as one of, if not the single most expensive, on the roster was offensive tackle Jordan Seaton. The Colorado Buffaloes were a five-star coming out of high school and have already proven that he will eventually be playing on Sundays. If he can continue to refine his game, he could very well be the best left tackle in the country. Paying a premium for an elite talent at one of the most important positions in the game is never a bad idea.

It'll be interesting to see what Kiffin's approach looks like when they don't have to build from the ground up. The start to the 2027 recruiting class is great, but that is going to once again be very expensive. The transfer portal additions might not be as expensive, as they will have fewer moves to make, but the overall roster value is only going to continue to climb.

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