College football has gone entirely professional. According to a report from Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle, Texas football is preparing to spend between $35 and $40 million on its roster in 2025.
That number includes a projected $20.5 million in revenue sharing tied to the House settlement and payouts via the Texas One Fund, a donor collective that has helped fund the Longhorns’ resurrection.
And it might not be done yet. With ten transfer portal additions already on the books—and possibly one or two more on the way—Texas is operating like an NFL front office with a blank check.
A connected source told the Houston Chronicle that the Longhorns’ collective-fueled roster build is “just unsustainable,” adding that this level of spending is likely a one-year phenomenon. “The next season after this year, the whole world will be back to reality,” the source said.
That “reality” should arrive when the House v. NCAA settlement is finalized, opening the door for schools to phase out collectives and shift NIL compensation to direct, regulated revenue-sharing and corporate deals.
That’s the hope, anyway.
Until then, it’s the wild west—and Texas is firing from the hip with more ammunition than pretty much anyone.
While the school declined to say how many players are making $1 million or more, the implications are clear: Texas is paying for a roster built to win now.
Bohls noted that Arch Manning is the highest-paid Longhorn, but all of his deals are private and brokered independently.
As for Quinn Ewers, head coach Steve Sarkisian claimed he didn’t take money from the collective, though sources told Bohls he did, just not nearly as much as others, with the bulk coming from corporate NIL partnerships, “so Texas could have more good players around him.”
The numbers are mind-bending. The precedent is seismic. And yes, the money is real.
Texas will spend more money on football than 99% of the other programs in college football in 2025, and in large part, that’s why they’ll be a national title favorite when August rolls around.
