The sticker price for a college football national title has reached into the tens of millions of dollars, and that’s just for the roster of players once paid in scholarships, two-a-days and, for a select few, brown bags holding some cash.
Now almost everyone from top-level quarterbacks to placekicker are in on the action — thanks to fortunes coming from name, image and likeness payments coupled with a wide-open window to change schools at any time without penalty.
Such opportunities and fortunes will be on display tonight when No. 8 Ohio State faces No. 7 Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The Buckeyes spent “around $20 million” to build this roster, its athletic director publicly shared before the season. The price tag is likely higher, said one former coach, with other programs surely having ponied up somewhere near or more than that amount.
“There’s plenty of other teams who spent $20 million, but they’re not playing for the national championship,” said Joe Moglia, the former Coastal Carolina coach and CEO of brokerage firm TD Ameritrade.
He added “I have no doubt Notre Dame is spending that much. “And, remember, nobody knows exactly, nobody is being overly forthcoming. So the fact that Ohio State is saying $20 million, that could be $30 million. But I’m not picking on Ohio State because everybody is doing this.”
The money being spent to build blue-chip rosters is only going to go up as schools ramp up efforts to be players on college football’s biggest stage. The two major programs in the Palmetto State are no exception.
Even with Clemson returning to the CFP after a four-year absence and South Carolina winning nine games for the first time since 2017, both fell far short of realizing championship aspirations. The Tigers surprisingly squeaked into the first 12-team playoff by virtue of winning the ACC championship. The Gamecocks did not make the cut despite their best season in years and being higher ranked than their in-state foe and winning the rivalry game.
