A major report on the Texas Longhorns football payroll for next season reveals what schools like Ohio State, LSU, and Penn State will have to fork over to compete for National Championships in 2025 and beyond.
College football has been forever changed by the addition of name, image, and likeness rules. Instead of elite recruiting skills, programs must shell out big money to land star athletes and compete for championships. Ohio State spent huge sums to bring a natty back to Columbus this year. And it seems if they want to get another anytime soon, they will have to break their own spending record to do it.
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This week, the Houston Chronicle reported that a “connected source” informed that the expected budget for the Texas Longhorns football teams in 2025 “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.”
That is a stunning amount when you factor in that Ohio State allegedly spent $20 million on players via their NIL collectives this past season. Which was a new high point for the legendary program. Reports claim LSU spent just over $5 million last season. But the program plans to kick its player payouts to $20 million for the 2025-26 season.
Penn State could shell out close to $20.5 million next season. Since that is the planned revenue-sharing total in the nearly finalized House vs. NCAA settlement.
Those are notable sums and would have seemed shocking four or five years ago. However, with college football being big business, the price to win is quickly skyrocketing. Texas is very much all in on trying to win it all with stud quarterback Arch Manning next season. If teams like Ohio State, Penn State, or LSU want to overcome that roster, they will need to increase their payrolls even more in 2025.
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