Alabama, Michigan Spent Over $1M on Private Jets During 2025 CFB Season, See Top Spending Teams

The Alabama, Nebraska and Michigan football programs all racked up seven-figure bills from the use of private jet travel in 2025, according to Front Office Sports' David Covucci.

The Crimson Tide ($1.2 million) had the highest costs among the 50 schools who responded to a public records request. The Cornhuskers and Wolverines eclipsed $1 million, with Texas A&M falling just short of that figure:

Covucci clarified that this didn't reflect the expenses from travel to and from games.

In the case of A&M, for example, Aggies personnel took 15 private flights, and coach Mike Elko accounted for 24 flights of his own. The purposes of those trips ranged from recruiting to personal reasons or attending events such as SEC media day.

According to Covucci, in-kind donations helped schools avoid directly footing the bill in some cases.

Mike McNamara, a booster at Michigan State, loaned his jet to the Spartans to help coach Pat Fitzgerald arrive for his introductory press conference. Marshall had all 40 hours of its flight time donated.

Working in high-level college sports has long been a year-round gig. Once the games stop, the recruiting starts. Coaches and staffers are afforded little to no offseason.

The advent of the transfer portal only heightened that aspect.

A little of the burden is at least being shifted away from the coaches as schools hire dedicated general managers or people to occupy a similar role. At Texas Tech, GM James Blanchard handles a lot of the talent acquisition/retention, allowing Joey McGuire to focus more on coaching.

Still, somebody has to make all of those trips to scout prospective players and make sales pitches to interested targets. Using private aircraft is the smoothest way to make that happen.