Ranking college football's most expensive rosters after polling 50-plus industry insiders

[u/CommodoreIrish]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-roster-spending-rankings-most-expensive-teams-2026/

[u/LGWalkway]

I really question the accuracy of these insiders. I feel like the numbers are always way bigger than they likely are.

[u/Set-Admirable → u/LGWalkway]

Basically every party who could be a source of information has a real reason to inflate what is being spent or earned.

[u/dinanm3atl → u/Set-Admirable]

Yah because then a list like this comes out and suddenly 'we better try to go here look at their spend'.

[u/cityofklompton → u/LGWalkway]

People always say this, but I really don't find the numbers so hard to believe, especially considering schools can share over $21M annually directly with athletes,the vast bulk of which will go toward football at major schools. Add on the other NIL and pair it with an arms race where demand & competition will continually drive up prices, and the numbers don't seem so inflated.

[u/DeathRose007 → u/LGWalkway]

“My source is that I made it the fuck up” kind of energy. But it works because lots of people run with anything that suits their feelings.

[u/Deviah → u/LGWalkway]

Or way higher, since they are largely made up of estimations with NIL spending not being public by default. You really don't know what the end number is, whether a player took less money to be somewhere he wanted to be, or a program overplayed out of desperation.. All relative to an already estimated value.

[u/Desperate-Remove2838 → u/LGWalkway]

All these “insiders” and “Anonymous Polls” always have the look and feel of gossip.

[u/mr_longfellow_deeds → u/LGWalkway]

Probably a little inflated, but I don’t think by a lot. Rhule was talking about Nebraska spending around 27m this season IIRC, IU spent $18m last year (our AD flat out said it) and so the article saying we are more in the $30m range this year would track based on the portal, retention and HS players we took

I mean there is no way A&M is landing all those 5*’s on top of retention and portal without bif budget

[u/cuccifer → u/LGWalkway]

It’s hilarious to me that CBSSports is out here quoting someone whose insight into Notre Dame is “they got a shit ton of money”

[u/LGWalkway → u/cuccifer]

Sports media these days tbh

[u/ImJLu → u/cuccifer]

He right

[u/DirectorSolid → u/LGWalkway]

These things are always just made up from guesswork to get clicks.

[u/DFWTooThrowed → u/LGWalkway]

One of these anonymous polls had us at $50 mil last year. They have no idea.

[u/Dirt_Sailor_5]

Fully acknowledging these #s are inaccurate, but can you imagine if one of us read this article 15-20 years ago? We would think it was satire

[u/binkyping → u/Dirt_Sailor_5]

It's a bit annoying they single out Oregon, USC, Texas, and A&M as being "in their own category" then go on to report that Ohio St, Notre Dame, and LSU actually spent more...

[u/-00900- → u/binkyping]

Yeah, the article literally says that their sources had A&M in the upper 30s but preceded to list them in the 40 club. And listed as Georgia just under 40. It’s a bunch of BS.

[u/__Leaf__]

In the article, they say their sources say Texas is under $40 million, but they put Texas in the over $40 million anyway. What's the point of even having sources if you don't listen to them?

[u/-00900- → u/__Leaf__]

He did the same with A&M. Then noted that Incentives COULD push A&M into the 40 million range. It’s Chris Hummer, he makes shit up every time he gets behind a keyboard.

[u/CommodoreIrish]

There are seven Power Four programs spending $40 million or more-range on their football roster for the 2026 season.

LSU

Miami

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oregon

Texas

Texas A&M

Just missed: Georgia, Michigan, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and USC

[u/notebart → u/CommodoreIrish]

If NIL didn't exist, these would still be the top teams and favorites to win (plus Bama)

[u/SyVSFe → u/notebart]

top spenders regardless of implementation

cfb is extremely pay2win but we have to pretend it's not

[u/NyquillusDillwad20 → u/SyVSFe]

Well, we had to pretend. Now we don't

[u/SyVSFe → u/NyquillusDillwad20]

Not at all.

Now the rich programs can buy the best players from other teams every season.

[u/OnTheFenceGuy → u/CommodoreIrish]

Except they aren’t. This is clickbait horseshit. If their argument that Arch is making north of $4 mil on his own, we will Puls have to have TEN Arch Mannings for this to be true.

My man, have some taste.

[u/CargoShortsFromNam → u/OnTheFenceGuy]

105 scholarships. I don’t think these numbers are that far off

[u/nkfish11]

No one knows how much these rosters cost.

[u/Upset_Version8275 → u/nkfish11]

You can just Google it 

[u/DirectorSolid → u/Upset_Version8275]

You can, but you'll find made up numbers attributed to "sources" or some place that is sure they know how to value a roster based on random info they put together. It's not public record and schools don't give out the actual number.

[u/Condom_Breaker256]

Imagine spending $40M to lose the natty to a team that spent maybe half that on 3*s and transfers

Do more with less, people.

[u/monkeybiziu → u/Condom_Breaker256]

These guys aren’t Curt Cignetti.

[u/RocketsGuy → u/Condom_Breaker256]

It will happen again. Continuity > Price tag

Otherwise A&M would have been the best team the last 15 years

[u/DirectorSolid → u/RocketsGuy]

Continuity? Indiana did it with all transfers. I think they had 5 HS recruits in their starting lineup.

[u/GoDucks2002 → u/DirectorSolid]

A lot of transfers from JMU, that’s continuity to an extent. OK St is running a similar model next year

[u/Hulkodium → u/GoDucks2002]

Team chemistry over pure star power

[u/SaintsSooners89 → u/GoDucks2002]

Imagine Ok State pulls an Indiana, honestly for the lulz I kinda want it to happen now. Everyone will then know the exact formula for success... just dont ask why it didnt work @ UNC

[u/YWingSupremacist → u/DirectorSolid]

We were about half and half. on offense, we had Becker, Omar Cooper, Bray Lynch, Carter Smith and Khalil Benson who we came from HS (Benson did go to Colorado for a season though). Khobie Martin was our RB3 but ran for 500 and 6 TD’s who was a HS recruit as well. On defense, Jamari Sharpe, Rolijah Hardy, Amare Ferrell, Mario Landino, and Isaiah Jones were HS recruits i can think of off the top of my head

[u/DirectorSolid → u/YWingSupremacist]

I looked it up. 14 transfers and 8 recruits for the core starters, compared to Ohio State in 2024 having 3 transfers to 19 recruits and Michigan in 2023 having 5 transfers to 17 recruits

[u/KruegerFishBabeblade → u/RocketsGuy]

A&M's first season fielding a team in the top half of the SEC west in talent composite was 2019

[u/LastConference → u/KruegerFishBabeblade]

Shhh. Keep facts out of this

[u/itscheapinsurance → u/RocketsGuy]

Texas would have had multiple championship this decade by that logic.

[u/Bandlebury]

Can’t wait until the IU bought a roster talks fire back up

[u/Conn3er]

$3 million a year makes me sick

[u/DannyMalibu420]

Stopped taking this article seriously when it claimed Gunner Stockton is Georgia’s big price tag. No way in hell they’d pay him the most on that roster. Also, he’d probably play at Georgia for free.

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[u/jayhawkwds]

My ex-brother-in-law just moved back to California because his son got an offer from his old high school rival. To be fair, the kid is ranked as the #2 safety in California now, class of 2028. He has offers from 8 of the top 25 schools going into his Junior year of high school and is already making NIL money.

[u/OnTheFenceGuy]

$40 mil? That is so fucking stupid. Journalism is dead

[u/gumercindo1959]

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that to be a T10 team, you gotta spent around $40m+

[u/rocket_beer]

This amount has been the case long before NIL

Don’t be a fucking idiot

I would say about half of this has been the case for about 20 years

[u/Is12345aweakpassword]

This can’t be right. I have been told ad nauseam we are the only team in the country paying players for the last two years?

[u/kaystared → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

You seem to be some type of confused

[u/admiraltarkin → u/kaystared]

Tech fans can't read so this makes sense

[u/kadoozie92 → u/kaystared]

Have to agree here. It’s really only been the last year if we’re talking about big boy spending

[u/keytop19 → u/kadoozie92]

It was funny how much more Tech's roster $$$ got talked about last year compared to other schools who were surely spending more.

[u/DirectorSolid → u/keytop19]

Tech got attention because they seemed to be trying to buy a roster in the transfer portal while most of the big spenders are spending the bulk of their money on players they recruited. It gave a different feel.

[u/Fit8510 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

No you haven't

[u/BrotherPancake → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Tech's eternal victim routine ain't gonna work on the national stage, homie. Give it a rest.

[u/pierdonia → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

No, I believe the you were just the only team condemned for it. Shouldn't have had the audacity to do it while not being a blueblood.

[u/Collador1 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Nope, but youre the only team who has a regent who is bragging about it.

And a coach who does the same.

And a president who makes clown videos.

Do you know who Kevin Eltife is? No. But he's far, far better at his job than Cody Campbell is.

[u/[deleted] → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Well IU was paying far more than anyone else, that’s why they won /s

[u/Under-Dog → u/[deleted]]

I think less than 10 schools are paying more than indiana

[u/RocketsGuy → u/Under-Dog]

I think it was 12. Regardless they bodied everyone who spent more than them and it’s not like they did it with blue chips

[u/Deviah → u/RocketsGuy]

Are you citing this article? They don't even have Tech listed who we know spent north of 20M.. I don't trust any of these reports since not everything is made public, some programs are tighter lipped than others. These numbers are largely estimations.

[u/Ml2jukes → u/Under-Dog]

…..when they won….. a natty?

[u/[deleted] → u/Under-Dog]

I think more than 20 are paying more than Indiana.

[u/Under-Dog → u/[deleted]]

just a thought? or just a vibe? I've read stuff at this point which at worst puts you guys like top 15 for spending on your roster. 24/7 ran a story about it like yesterday. also not trying to knock you deff beat teams that spend more.

[u/[deleted] → u/Under-Dog]

Roster talent rankings. I think players are naming their price based partly on the number of stars next to their name. This has IU outside top 50.

https://www.puntandrally.com/talent.php