How much does it cost to build a contender? Inside college football's exploding NIL war
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Pete Bevacqua provided the unofficial bullhorn for spending on college football rosters in early June.
Appearing on Capitol Hill, Notre Dame’s athletic director declared in public testimony “there’s this misnomer that there’s a (salary) cap. There is no cap.”
Speaking exclusively last month to USA TODAY Sports, Rich Rodriguez — now in Year 2, Part II as West Virginia’s football coach — put college football’s roster spend in plainer terms.
“We’re on a runaway train and it’s not slowing down; it’s just getting worse,” said Rodriguez, who’s been a head or assistant coach in all four power conferences. “People don’t realize how competitive, not just coaches, but schools are.
“If I’m a school that’s got a $40 million roster, and I’m playing a team in my league with a $15 million roster, well, I don’t want the rules to change; I like it.”
How common is that type of financial mismatch unfolding on college football fields? What’s the spending throughout college football’s highest-funded rosters?
“I would say most of them are operating with a minimum of $25 million in the Big Ten and SEC, some close to $50 million at the top,” said Rodriguez, estimating 50% of all Power Four games feature a dramatic discrepancy in spending. “In the Big 12, I don’t know this for fact, but I am ‘guesstimating’ that there are a few at the $40 million mark, maybe a little bit more."
A prominent general manager at a Power Four school told USA TODAY Sports he expects one more year of massive payroll increases without Congressional oversight.
“The pay has become insane. I don’t know if it can be sustained,” the person said. “I think it will go up one more time, to where it goes to $60 million for a lot of teams, and then I think that will be it. It’s got one more jump and that will be all.
“Otherwise, at this rate, three years from now payrolls will be at $100 million. But I think next year, people are really preparing for $60 million. I know this, because we’re trying to hit $50 million next year — which is really [freaking] hard to do.”
USA TODAY Sports spoke to more than 20 FBS head coaches, approximately 25 college football general managers and personnel directors, as well as more than a dozen agents to find out what do college football's top rosters cost in 2026 and what positions earn a premium.
All were granted anonymity to discuss the spending, which far outstrips the House settlement’s provision of maximum school-to-athlete direct revenue-sharing of $21.35 million for the 2026-27 term.
At least a half-dozen teams are at or near $50 million in roster-spend for the coming season, no less than 10 head coaches and general managers told USA TODAY Sports.
They unanimously agreed on the top spenders, in no particular order: LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech and Notre Dame.
Even without the heft of Brendan Sorsby’s nullified contract, which two people with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports could have been worth more than $6 million, the Red Raiders are far and away the biggest Big 12 spenders, multiple conference coaches shared.
Two different national agencies tabbed at least 11 programs across the country with roster spends of $40 million or more.
“We’re at $40 million,” said one general manager whose team is ranked in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. “I know we’re not the most, but I can deal with being about $14 million behind the most. We still have to go play. We still have to go win games.”
Three Group of Six head coaches, two acknowledging their own roster costs, put the top level of spending in that realm of FBS football at approximately $10-11 million.
“We’re at close to $9 million,” a head coach told USA TODAY Sports. “But, we’re working to get another $2 million for the season. We’ll work to retain guys sooner than later; that’s always cheaper.”
What positions attract the most NIL in college football?
What’s the positional breakdown in crafting a roster ginning up a cost in the tens of millions of dollars?
“We’re valuing it just like the NFL: We’re gonna spend on quarterback, tackle and edge, first,” a current general manager with lead experience in two power conferences told USA TODAY Sports. “After that, it’s corner and wide receiver.”
Quarterbacks, as explained to USA TODAY Sports, are set to make $3.5 million or more at numerous P-4 programs and a couple of outliers are poised to earn $5 million or more.
“Generally, it’s in the $2 to $3 million range for a mid-level, P-4 starting quarterback,” an agent who reps two such players shared.
“Starting quarterbacks are between, I mean, $2 million to $6 million, depending on where you are,” said the top personnel executive of a multi-time College Football Playoff team.
“Our quarterback makes $1.5 million, but it’s because we got him with the right people to make up for the money [via outside NIL compensation]. $2 million is kind of the bottom in our league where, in reality, our guy should be making $2.5 million.”
An SEC executive explained the year-over-year jump.
“We were right around $25, $26 million last year and that put us upper-third in the league,” he said. “Once you got into the portal this year, the limit didn’t exist. If you were a player people coveted, a Jordan Seaton, really almost all those LSU guys, Jordan Seaton, Sam Leavitt, Byrum Brown is making a big number at Auburn, Xavier Atkins is a seven-figure linebacker.
“When it came to (saying), ‘We have to keep somebody,’ it only takes one school to blow up the marketplace — and a lot of times it’s a school in Texas.”
A quarterback’s best friend — typically his starting left tackle — is next in the marketplace.
There are multiple $2 million tackles throughout the college game, numerous individuals shared, and ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 programs all paid at least $1 million to sign tackles out of the portal in January.
“If you’re a starting tackle, you should be at a million at the P4 level,” said an agent who brokered at least three such deals, including at least $1 million apiece in the Big Ten and Big 12. “There are exceptions. Our highest-paid guy this year is $1.35 million in the ACC.”
Edge rushers are next in the hierarchy. Multiple P4 coaches and GMs put the edge rusher market at around $750,000 but quick to escalate.
“If you’re a dude, a difference-maker,” said an SEC GM, “then you’re easily getting upwards of $900,000, a million.
“If you’re (South Carolina star) Dylan Stewart, you should be getting $2 million. If you’re a starter at edge in this league, just a guy, you’re still probably around $600,000.”
Top wide receivers, three different SEC staffers said, can command seven figures.
“If you’re an NFL guy (prospect),” said a GM, “you’re getting a million-plus. It’s crazy. I don’t know how it’s sustainable.”
A wide receiver with zero career starts and multiple years of eligibility remaining still commanded a significant payday in the Big Ten, his agent said.
“We got him signed for more than $400,000,” he said. “He’s got multiple years to play. They’re trying to get better in a hurry.”
Top corners, safeties and wide receivers all are in similar pay-scale environments, participants explained.
“The top starting safeties in the Big Ten, Big Ten-adjacent, are making a million,” an agent who brokered multiple deals said. “Cornerbacks in the Big Ten, Notre Dame types, they’re also making $750,000 to a million.”
Where the market has perhaps most exploded year-over-year, three different Power conference coordinators told USA TODAY Sports, has been for specialists — especially placekickers.
There’s talk, they said, of an SEC specialist now making $750,000 “with a chance to get to a million if he wins the (Lou) Groza award,” a coordinator who had recruited the kicker said.
“A guy we liked ended up signing (with another team) for $350,000,” another coordinator said. “We like our guy at $250 (thousand).”
How much are Group of Six schools spending on NIL?
There are still big bucks being spent at the G6 level as well.
Quarterbacks routinely fetch $400,000-600,000, per two head coaches and two general managers who spoke with USA TODAY Sports.
There are additional perks, too. Preferred seating for families. Club access. Boxes donated for private use.
Offensive tackles, same as the P4 level, command a premium. Where some G6 programs carve their niche is striking a balance between a nice payday and a clearer path to a full-time starting role.
“That [stuff] is going to be a wide range on the offensive line,” a G6 executive with P4 experience told USA TODAY Sports. “What I always say in general when I start a first conversation with an agent, if your guy is worth $300,000 at a P4, where he might be a backup, you can come be a starter here and still earn six figures.
“For us to retain an all-conference kid, he’s probably gonna need to take one-third the money (he could command in the portal). Because if he’s an all-conference player for us and projects as a starting-caliber P-4 tackle, that [stuff is] at least $750,000. For us, we’re going to try to get him to $250-300,000. Retention is cheaper than shopping in the portal.”
What about NIL at FCS schools?
Even at the Football Championship Subdivision level, roster spending is zooming upwards in many instances.
“The top of the market is a few hundred thousand [for a top FCS quarterback],” a coach of an FCS Top 25 team, whose own program has significantly amplified its roster-spend, told USA TODAY Sports. “There are several schools spending a couple million on their rosters. There are FCS schools who are spending more than some G6 schools.”
Sometimes, the coach explained, spending variances show the most in simple roster construction.
“No doubt the powerhouses at our level, the biggest discrepancy, too, is scholarships,” he said. “The old way of 63 (scholarships) to split up among 85 (players). A lot of schools are funding 90 full scholarships. Big Sky schools have money, some Texas schools. There’s a Tennessee school spending big money.”
High school players, too, are getting unprecedented sums of money.
Under Armour inked multiple prep stars from the 2026 class to significant, upper-six figure deals, personnel executives told USA TODAY Sports.
“We’ve been told guys were already at a million dollars before stepping foot on a college campus,” an SEC GM said.
Adidas, now, also has gotten aggressive in the marketplace; Nike has begun to show signs of more creative spending to help fund rosters at some of its flagship collegiate programs.
A top five-star prospect at a skill position in the 2027 class, according to a P-4 coach and multiple GMs, is poised to earn $2 million in the next year with “$750,000 from (the apparel company).”
So, the spending continues.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How much does it cost to build a contender? Inside college football's exploding NIL war
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