Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you a fighting chance for a national championship. Just ask Ohio State football. At a reported $20 million of funds used for NIL (name, image, likeness), the Buckeyes have one of the most expensive rosters in college athletics.
It paid off Monday night as No. 8 Ohio State (14-2) defeated No. 7 Notre Dame (14-2), 34-23, for the program’s ninth national championship.
One may disagree with this new age of college athletics, which features exorbitant NIL deals and an unregulated transfer portal, but Ohio State simply used the system to its advantage, and the result is exactly what it had hoped for.
As another season of college football closes, though, it’s fair to wonder what Ohio State’s win means for the sport’s future. Does a $20 million roster from a Big Ten team leave any room for programs with smaller budgets, fewer deep-pocketed donors and schools outside the powerful Big Ten and SEC?
The Buckeyes lost a pair of games to No. 1 Oregon and unranked Michigan. According to On3, Oregon’s NIL collective ranks fourth, while Michigan’s is 13th. Ohio State is No. 1.
Five of the top 15 NIL collectives saw their team reach the College Football Playoff. Three more (Alabama, Ole Miss, Miami) barely missed out. With so much money backing Ohio State’s roster, the season became “championship or bust” before fall camp broke.
With the first season of the 12-team playoff concluded, it’s difficult to see how the Group of 5 teams fit into the picture. Boise State was a nice story, earning the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye, but the Big Ten’s Penn State outclassed the Broncos.
Broncos offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter announced his retirement following the Fiesta Bowl loss to Penn State, and in a Facebook post, lamented the challenges NIL presents.
“We are behind right now in the NIL game,” Koetter wrote. “Our best players are getting offered between 2 and 10 times what we can offer. We are losing recruits in the portal to schools that are just flat-outbidding us. I know it’s not all about the money and Coach D [Spencer Danielson] and staff will undoubtedly continue to find ‘the right kind of guys,’ but money is an issue.”
It’s not just the Group of 5 teams, either. There are Power 4 teams that can’t compete within their conference when it comes to NIL dollars. A 2022 report from USA Today and the Knight Commission detailed the universities with the most generous donors. Maryland ranked 49th overall at $194 million but was light-years behind fellow Big Ten member Oregon at $969 million.
Want to win? Spend big. It’s as simple as that. The new era of college athletics will separate the haves from the have-nots and Ohio State’s win was the exclamation point to the emphatic statement NIL collectives made this season.
Where does that leave the sport moving forward? Many are about to be left behind with no real shot at a conference championship, let alone a national championship. It’s a system that’s detrimental to the sport.
