College sports spending keeps climbing, and the Big Ten is right in the middle of it.
The Athletic’s latest look at NIL roster budgets shows just how much the market has moved in a single offseason. The Big Ten’s average budget sits at $14 million this year, up from $8.5 million last season.
That’s a 68.2 percent jump, even as the conference slipped behind the Big East, which now checks in at $14.5 million. The SEC remains out front at $18 million.
That surge isn’t isolated to one league. The Big East’s average rose from $8 million to $14.5 million, an 81.3 percent increase, while the SEC jumped from $9.7 million to $18 million, a gain of 85.6 percent. The Big 12 also moved up to $13.8 million from $8.6 million, and the ACC climbed from $8.2 million to $11.5 million, the smallest growth among the top five conferences.
The Athletic’s Brendan Marks and CJ Moore reported that many coaches expected last offseason to be the high-water mark once revenue-sharing arrived through the House settlement. Instead, budgets kept rising.
“Last offseason, when revenue-sharing was officially introduced as a result of the House settlement, many coaches hoped that roster budgets were at (or nearing) their all-time peak,” The Athletic’s Brendan Marks and CJ Moore wrote. “That’s because teams were essentially working with two pots of money in the same offseason: any funds they’d already raised - and had to spend - before the adoption of the House settlement; and then whatever revenue-sharing money they received from their athletic departments.
“Everyone was trying to front-load, because that’s when you were going to feel the House stuff,” one ACC head coach said in the article. “You hear all the time that this is not sustainable, but every year the prices go up, so we need to stop saying that. Somehow we’ve been able to sustain it.”
There’s also a growing sense that the very top of the market has moved again. An SEC assistant told The Athletic that three or four teams are now operating in the $30 million range, after Kentucky reportedly led the way with a $22 million roster last year.
One of the clearest inflation points is at center. The Athletic reported that coaches agreed the most expensive players this spring were centers, with point guards close behind. Multiple coaches said a high-major center now starts around $1.5 million, and the biggest names can make three times that amount.
Wisconsin has felt that pressure too. The Badgers made Nolan Winter a top retention priority, while John Blackwell left and eventually transferred to Duke.
Earlier this offseason, Greg Gard said he does not expect Wisconsin to be in the top half of Big Ten spending this season, even with the program’s budget rising. The reason is simple: everybody else is spending more, too.
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