Kirby Smart may be winning at a level that looks expensive, but according to a recent Athletic report, Georgia’s football roster budget sits well below some of the sport’s biggest spenders.
The Athletic placed the Bulldogs 10th in the SEC and 18th nationally in roster spending, estimating UGA’s football budget at between $31 million and $34 million. That puts Georgia well behind SEC leader and current No. 1-ranked Texas, which the report says is spending between $45 million and $55 million - a gap of roughly $14 million to $21 million.
A source told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the numbers they know about do not include the front-loading player acquisition that happened before the current NIL revenue-sharing cap went into effect.
Even with that reported spending level, Georgia is sitting at No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 poll and has just won back-back SEC championship games over Texas and Alabama.
Smart, now in his 11th season at Georgia, has repeatedly made the case that his program has what it needs.
“We have no issue with resources, facilities, availability,” Smart said at SEC media days.
“There’s never been something that I asked our administration to do from a number to go to to get a player out of the portal or get a player in high school that they weren’t willing to do.”
The Bulldogs’ position near the middle of the SEC in roster spending is notable, especially given the way Smart has chosen to build the team. Last offseason, Georgia added only nine players through the transfer portal, while losing at SEC-low to the portal.
That approach meant money had to be spent keeping players in Athens, both established contributors and younger pieces, but it likely did not require the kind of bidding wars that come with chasing veteran portal talent.
Monroe Freeling, one of the 21 first-round NFL draft picks Smart has produced, said the program’s culture is part of why players stick around even when they could chase more money elsewhere.
“I just think it’s the culture of our program, you don’t really come to Georgia if you’re just trying to get paid,” Freeling said at the 2026 NFL Combine.
“You come to Georgia to get developed and go to the NFL.”
Smart has made the same point himself, saying Georgia has done a strong job keeping its roster intact without relying on massive portal turnover.
“When you look across the country, we’ve done as good of a job as anybody of retaining our roster and not having to go wholesale into the portal,” Smart said this fall.
“… We just keep thinking that if we pour into our guys, that our development is going to be better than taking a guy that’s second, third, fourth year that somebody else developed.”
That veteran base has shaped how Georgia has operated through its first two games, with Smart trying to build the kind of depth needed for the SEC’s nine-game league schedule this season. Georgia has 34 players who have played at least three seasons for the Bulldogs, up from 25 on last year’s team.
The financial picture helps explain how Georgia can keep investing. The school’s 2025 NCAA financial report showed football brought in $38.9 million of Georgia’s $42.1 million in ticket revenue and $44.1 million of its $52.1 million in contributions.
Smart has also pushed the idea that football’s revenue supports the rest of the athletic department, including Olympic sports, and Georgia’s overall success has reflected that model with three straight Top 10 finishes in the Learfield Director’s Cup.
The Athletic’s report, which said it drew on estimates from 70 unnamed sources including general managers, personnel directors, athletic directors and agents, listed the top roster spending programs as follows:
Texas: $45 million to $55 million
LSU: $47 million to $50 million
Texas A&M: $45 million to $50 million
Ole Miss: $39 million to $45 million
Tennessee: $41 million to $43 million
Alabama: $38 million to $42 million
Florida: $31 million to $41 million
South Carolina: $32 million to $35 million
Auburn: $31 million to $35 million
Georgia: $31 million to $34 million
Oklahoma: $28 million to $34 million
Missouri: $27 million to $30 million
Mississippi State: $25 million to $30 million
Vanderbilt: $25 million to $28 millio
Kentucky: $23 million to $26 million
Arkansas: $22 million to $25 million
The report also said several schools outside the SEC are believed to be spending more than Georgia, including Ohio State at $49 million to $54 million, Oregon at $48 million to $54 million, Miami at $44 million to $50 million, Notre Dame at $41 million to $48 million, Texas Tech at $38 million to $42 million, Michigan at $36 million to $40 million, Indiana at $36 million to $40 million and Nebraska at $31 million to $35 million.
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