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The Texas football team is coming off its best season under head coach Steve Sarkisian. The Longhorns made the College Football Playoff before falling to eventual national champion Ohio State.
Sarkisian is looking to make another deep postseason run in 2025. He’s spending boatloads of cash to do so.
Texas had one of the most expensive rosters in college football last year, which was said to have been valued at more than $20 million. That number fell below only Oregon, who was rumored to have an unlimited budget thanks to billionaire booster Phil Knight.
It paid off as the squad played for a conference title and was one of the final four teams standing in the postseason. The ‘Horns were one yard shy of sending that matchup with Ohio State to overtime before an awful offensive play call moved the unit backwards.
This year, the Longhorns are looking to make more noise. They’ve started by doubling that previous total. The Houston Chronicle reports that the program is going to spend between $35-$40 million on its football players.
With the addition of 10 football players out of the transfer portal and probably one or two more on the way, the budget for next season’s Texas roster has grown as well. It currently sits somewhere “between $35 million and $40 million,” which counts the likely revenue-sharing allotment expected to be $20.5 million as well as payouts through the Texas One Fund, a connected source tells the Houston Chronicle.
The Chronicle says that future rosters won’t be nearly as expensive given plans to spend through revenue sharing alone while eliminating its NIL collective. Still, the astronomical number highlights the current state of college football.
The NCAA failed to put guidelines on NIL spending. It’s resulted in a recruiting free-for-all. Big-wig donors are forking up cash to lure top talent to campus. Texas has as much money as anyone in the nation.
Ohio State showed last season that money can buy happiness. The Buckeyes ranked No. 3 in terms of NIL spending for football with a $20 million roster of their own. Despite losing two games in the regular season, an expanded College Football Playoff field gave them an opportunity to play for a national championship.
The team put together an impressive four-game run to bring home that hardware to Columbus. They’ll likely be one of the sport’s top spenders again in 2025. None might match Texas, though.
This year’s team should again compete for an SEC and national title. Returning stars include Arch Manning, CJ Baxter, Quintrevion Wisner, and Anthony Hill. They’ll line up alongside a group of incoming transfer portal talents and a top-ranked recruiting class.
The Longhorns are sparing no expense to win big in 2025. We’ll see if it pays off next year.