NIL has changed college football.
After Ohio State spent a staggering $20 million on their roster last year to help win the National Championship, the Texas Longhorns are set to shockingly double that.
Per Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle, the Longhorns roster currently costs somewhere “between $35 million and $40 million” that includes money from the revenue-sharing allotment that is expected to be around $20.5 million plus payouts from the school’s official NIL collective, the Texas One Fund.
Bohls added that Arch Manning is “by far the highest-paid Texas player,” but none of his money comes from the school because “he and his family acquired all his deals on their own ‘with no help from the school.'”
It’s unclear exactly how much money individual players, including Manning, are making.
One person told Bohls they didn’t want to reveal how many players will earn at least $1 million “because such transparency foments comparative discussions and locker-room chaos.”
University spending on athletics has been a huge topic since the NCAA adopted a name, image and likeness policy in 2021.
According to Bohls, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte anticipates the spike in NIL budget for this season will likely “one-time exorbitant expense” as they plan to phase out the NIL collective for the revenue-sharing model if it gets approved.
Texas has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2025 with 25 total commitments, per 247Sports’ composite rankings. The program also landed 10 commitments in the transfer portal.
The Longhorns made the College Football Playoff as the No. 5 seed and advanced to the semifinals before losing to Ohio State.
