Texas' Steve Sarkisian Denies 'Irresponsible' Rumor That Team Spent $40M on CFB Roster

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian denied a report from Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle last month which stated that the team's roster cost "between $35 million and $40 million.

"What's frustrating on that was it was a little bit of irresponsible reporting," Sarkisian said Tuesday on SiriusXM. "It was one anonymous source that said that's what our roster was. I wish I had $40 million on our roster, we'd probably be a better team than we are. The idea to think that a lot of other schools aren't spending money to get players, I mean, it’s the state of college football right now. It is what it is. Hey, we’re fortunate, don't get me wrong. We've got great support... I wish I had another $15 million or so, though, I might have a little better roster."

The $40 million rumor would have made Texas' roster the highest-paid roster in the NIL age, per Sam Khan Jr. of The Athletic, who noted that Ohio State's $20 million roster from the 2024 season was the most expensive roster in college football history (or at least highest among the schools who publicly revealed their budgets, which they rarely do).

It also would have represented a significant leap in funding over the past several years. Sportico reported in 2024 that the Texas One Fund, the nonprofit NIL collective that supports the school's athletic endeavors, "distributed about $11.7 million to UT athletes" in 2023.

But the Texas One Fund has been receiving heavy donations as well, bringing in $86 million in athletic donations during the 2022-23 academic school year alone.

"Texas is in the top three (nationally) of every measurable unit in NIL data: Total NIL compensation, total NIL deals, total NIL deals to women, total commercial deals," Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence told Khan. "No matter what metric you pick... Texas is in the top three, if not No. 1 across the board."

So while Sarkisian denied the rumors of a huge roster budget on Tuesday, the figure didn't seem far-fetched to industry insiders.

As Khan noted, almost everyone surveyed out of a group of "several GMs, personnel directors and people in the NIL world" believed that a $35 million to $40 million roster was "realistic for Texas, with several suggesting only a small handful of schools can spend in that ballpark. A second Power 4 GM described Texas as paying some of its backup players like starters."

At the very least, roster budgets reaching those numbers is on the horizon, with the pending House settlement opening up an avenue for schools to pay players directly via a revenue-sharing pool that can go up to $20 million. And whatever the actual figure is right now, Texas is very likely near the top of the sport.