College football’s spending race has gotten so loud that the sport’s most guarded numbers are starting to look like a scoreboard.
The Athletic’s new survey pegs Ohio State at the top, with an estimated roster-building range of $49 million to $54 million for the 2026 team. Reporters gathered figures for 68 Power Four programs and Notre Dame from more than 70 sources this summer, and the gap at the top is striking: Boston College sits at the bottom of the range chart, estimated between $8 million and $13 million. By the middle of those ranges, Ohio State’s budget is nearly five times larger.
Oregon is also believed to be operating around $50 million, putting the Buckeyes and Ducks in a tier very few schools can touch. Miami is in that neighborhood too, and the Hurricanes are estimated to have a $15 million to $20 million edge over every other ACC program.
These numbers reflect the money available to build each 2026 roster, including athletic department revenue, booster donations and program-controlled funds. They do not include independent income such as endorsement deals outside school control.
That shift matters because recruiting rankings no longer tell the whole story. The transfer portal and direct player compensation have made roster budgets a more immediate measure of which schools can land proven talent and keep their best players in place.
The conference-wide picture shows just how concentrated the money has become. Eleven of the 20 biggest spenders are in the SEC, while six are in the Big Ten. The SEC’s average estimated range lands between $33 million and $38 million, with the Big Ten next at $27 million to $31 million.
The money still doesn’t guarantee anything on Saturdays. Oregon lost to Oklahoma State even with an estimated roster-budget gap of more than $30 million. Clemson has the ACC’s second-highest estimate, but last season it still lost to lower-spending Duke and Syracuse.
The separation becomes even clearer outside the richest leagues. The ACC’s average range is $21 million to $25 million, and the Big 12 sits at $18 million to $22 million. In that league, 12 of 16 teams have ranges that start below $20 million.
A few schools break from the pack. Texas Tech is estimated at $38 million to $42 million, though that still leaves it behind Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Alabama is in the same range as Texas Tech, while Georgia is estimated lower at $31 million to $34 million.
Indiana’s estimate, $36 million to $40 million, also undercuts the idea that the Hoosiers won a national championship with a modest setup. By these numbers, Indiana now has one of the Big Ten’s five largest budgets.
The figures are still estimates, not audited payrolls. Sources can lowball or inflate them, and not everyone inside a program knows every deal. Even so, this 70-source survey gives the clearest public picture yet of what it costs to build a contender - and what that investment says about the expectations that come with it.
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Dante Moore Just Gave Oregon Fans A New Reason To Worry
Oregons trip to Oklahoma State did more than hand the Ducks a 39-31 loss in Week 2. It also exposed an issue in quarterback Dante Moores mechanics that the Cowboys were able to identify and use against him, a small-looking detail that can have a big effect when defenses start reading it before the ball is snapped. For a program trying to keep itself in the national conversation, it was the kind of film session result that tends to linger.
Moore and coach Dan Lanning both acknowledged the footwork tendency and said its something they are working to clean up, which at least gives Oregon a clear fix to chase. Still, any time a defense can anticipate plays from a tell in the quarterbacks setup, it raises an obvious concern for a team with bigger goals ahead and a long season still to navigate. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Is Chasing College Footballs Elite With A Price Tag Few Can Match
Oregons rise into the top tier of college football has been fueled by more than wins, branding and Nike-backed sheen. A new Athletic report on roster spending puts the Ducks in a small, expensive group at the top of the market, with only a handful of programs believed to be operating at roughly $40 million or more in player NIL deals. Among them, Oregon, Ohio State and Texas sit at the front of the pack at about $50 million apiece, a sign of how aggressively the sports biggest contenders are investing to keep pace.
For Oregon, the price tag underscores how the playoff race has become a spending race as much as a recruiting one. The report also draws a sharp line between the sports haves and have-nots, noting that some Power Four programs are operating near the bottom of the range while even traditional basketball schools are spending far less annually. The Ducks have made themselves a fixture in the national conversation, but the larger question hanging over that kind of investment is whether the returns can match the outlay when the margin for error is so thin. [Read more 🡒]
Dante Moores Response To Oregons Loss Could Matter More Than Fans Think
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Moores willingness to own it is part of why the Ducks believe there is still a promising arc here. He has the kind of upside that has NFL evaluators paying attention, but games like this are where development gets tested in real time. Oregon will want a clean rebound next time out, and what Moore does between now and then could say a lot about how quickly this group moves past one frustrating Saturday. [Read more 🡒]