SEC NIL big spenders

[Jaxcat]

Rankings are nationwide

#1 - TX, $47.9M
#4 - LSU, $42.8M
#7 - TX A&M, $38.9M
#8 - AL, $37.2M
#10 - TN, $35.7M
#11 - Ole Miss, $35.2M
#12 - GA, $34.2M
#14 - OK, $33.0M

It won't be long before the top teams are spending close to $100M on a roster unless the NCAA/government/sanity reins this unsustainable model in. Where is all of this money coming from? Are there really that many individuals with so much money and so little sense as to continue to write big 6- and 7-figure checks to teenagers to play football for THEIR school? Surely there is almost an infinite number of other things that could be funded that would benefit many more people. It's their money, of course. But, literally, if I was a billionaire, among the very last things I would fund would be NIL for some teenager to play ball at UK. It would be after the research on hermaphroditic monkey mating habits in Madagascar. It's mind-boggling to me that anyone so successful financially can be so stupid as to throw ridiculous sums of money at teenagers to play football.

[Matt Dillon]

This goes along with an article I posted on the Recruiting Forum in which coach Stein discusses NIL spending. By the way, I wonder what coach Stein's budget was coming in?

[Jaxcat]

In the top 15, only Notre Dame, TX Tech and Miami were outside the SEC/B10. I don't see how Pac10(?), G5, less rich/foolhardy B12 teams can hope to compete if SEC/B10 schools are able and willing to spend >$30M (and increasing) to get the best players. CFB is turning into MLB where the richest handful of teams buy up all the best free agents and stockpile expensive talent. A huge payroll doesn't guarantee any success, but it sure makes it easier to be good and, even more importantly, STAY good if you can just open up the checkbook and replenish the cupboard.

I'm still a bit perplexed about the whole 'NIL' designation. There are maybe 10 players in all of CFB where the university is profiting off their NIL (name, image, likeness) - maybe. So, if your AA left tackle is being paid $800k, what, exactly, is he being paid for if there is no actual NIL revenue being generated? Why don't we just 'fess up and state that big-time CFB is now a semi-pro minor league and quit with all the BS 'student athlete', 'NIL', etc.?

[Old School]

By those numbers, Texas spent 45% more on its roster than Oklahoma did, and the difference is even greater in comparison to half of the conference and more than 100 teams elsewhere.