Cal sits squarely in the middle of the ACC when it comes to football player payment budgets, according to a report from The Athletic that estimates how much each Power Four school can spend to build its 2026 roster.
The Athletic says the figures “refer to the amount of money a school had at its disposal to assemble its 2026 roster.”
In that estimate, Cal lands in a range of $20 million to $24 million. That puts the Bears tied for 40th among the 68 Power Four schools and ninth out of 17 ACC teams. The gap inside the conference is fairly tight, too, with the fifth-highest ACC budget and the 11th-highest not separated by much.
The top of the spending list lines up closely with the top of the rankings. All 14 teams with the biggest player-payment budgets are in this week’s AP top 25.
Texas, this week’s No. 1 team, ranks third in player-payment budgets. Ohio State, which had been No. 1 before losing in the final seconds to Texas, is tied with Oregon for the No. 1 spot in player-payment allotments, with both schools estimated at $49 million to $54 million.
Miami leads the ACC in the AP poll at No. 5, and it also has the conference’s biggest player-payment budget, estimated at $44 million to $50 million. That figure ranks sixth nationally among Power Four schools.
But Miami is the only ACC team inside the top 20 nationally in player-payment budgets, which helps explain why the conference has been so hard to sort out this season, aside from the fact that Miami is the obvious favorite. The race behind the Hurricanes is wide open, and that is part of why some believe Cal has an outside shot at the ACC championship game.
The Bears do not play Miami or Louisville this season. Cal is 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, and hosts Wagner on Saturday.
For the 2026-27 academic year, schools can spend up to $21.58 million on revenue sharing for all athletes, though that does not include outside NIL money.
Quarterbacks usually draw the biggest share, and Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is reported by the San Francisco Standard to have $3 million in NIL deals.
The Athletic’s budget rankings also roughly track with the ACC preseason media poll, with SMU and Florida State standing out as the notable exceptions.
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