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 kickers 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 escalate 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 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.

So now, as in years past, both are jockeying to not only improve their existing rosters, but also to fend off deep-pocketed poachers by paying up to keep their best players. The Gamecocks’ starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers, in announcing a new NIL deal, said that several teams tried to convince the SEC Freshman of the Year to leave South Carolina. Coach Shane Beamer has acknowledged that tampering is an issue now in college sports. 

That isn’t likely to change unless changes are made to the transfer process. Tonight’s game likely will further drive home the threat across college football.

Palmetto State defections on title game rosters

Ohio State will suit up nine players who weren’t on the team last year, when the Buckeyes missed the playoff. Notre Dame’s roster features seven such players.

That includes many of the best players on each side, including both quarterbacks as well as a former Tiger and Gamecock who have played huge roles in the playoffs so far. That also is the case for programs like Kansas State, Ole Miss and Alabama, all of which failed to make the playoff but have several former players playing starring roles in the games so far.

Former Clemson wide receiver Beaux Collins and ex-South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter play for Notre Dame. Keenan Nelson Jr., a one-time defensive back for the Gamecocks, is on Ohio State’s roster though he has yet to log time with the Buckeyes. 

Collins has caught 36 passes for 458 yards and three touchdowns, all second-best on the team. Jeter booted the game-winning field goal with 26 seconds left to lift Notre Dame over Penn State in the semifinals.

The Fighting Irish had four transfer starters during its win over Penn State, the centerpiece being former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard. He and Jeter, both newcomers, are two of the top three scorers on the team this season. 

As for Ohio State, former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and running back Quinshon Judkins, who transferred from Ole Miss, were instrumental in the Buckeyes’ semifinal win over Texas — a game in which safety Caleb Downs, an Alabama transfer, intercepted a pass.

Ohio State’s financial commitment is only one example of how money dictates everything happening on and off the field these days in college sports. But because of that $20 million figure, the Buckeyes’ brand and their success this season, it perfectly illustrates the state of college athletics.

“They have the resources and the ability to do it … more power to them,” said one Division I athletic director. “They’re like the (Los Angeles) Dodgers of NCAA football.”

Changes could put more money on table

To be clear: the money being spent today isn’t coming directly from the schools. At least, not yet.

Booster-fueled NIL collectives are paying players now, but that could be about to change — or be added to.

The looming $2.8 billion settlement in the House v. NCAA class action antitrust lawsui would clear the way for schools to directly pay student-athletes up to 22 percent of their athletic department’s annual revenue. It would be capped at a total of about $22 million annually per school and be on top of NIL money. A hearing is scheduled April 7 to give final approval to the settlement, which would act as a collective bargaining agreement. Other stipulations in the agreement could include roster limits, multi-year contracts to stymie transfers and a ban on NIL collective “pay-for-play” contracts. 

With schools allowed to pay players through revenue sharing on top of NIL deals, the finances of college football could kick into overdrive. And Clemson does not plan to be left behind, according to Coach Dabo Swinney, a two-time national champion. 

“Ain’t nobody gonna have more money than Clemson. Nobody. For the first time ever,” Swinney said in November in discussing the upcoming changes. 

The Biden administration last week issued memos aimed at these pending changes, including a warning that future revenue-sharing payments to players will be subject to Title IX requirements and that a 22 percent revenue-sharing cap would violate antitrust law.

Congress also is gearing up to take on the matter, perhaps even through a bipartisan effort to craft legislation to help the NCAA regain regulatory control over college sports and payments to athletes without violating federal antitrust restrictions, per ESPN.

Preparing for the financial future of college sports

According to On3 Sports, which reports the estimated roster values of college players, 11 of the 15 highest-spending NIL collectives are affiliated with schools in the Big Ten and SEC. The outliers are three ACC institutions (Florida State, Miami and Louisville) along with Notre Dame. 

Both Clemson and USC have taken steps in recent weeks to close the divide.

Clemson announced last week the hiring of former Atlanta Hawks executive Michael Drake as the CEO of Clemson Ventures, an initiative the school established last summer to bring various revenue-generating and marketing arms of the athletic department under one umbrella.

High on that list is Clemson’s in-house NIL collective, which the school said in a release it recognizes “the need for innovate and sustainable NIL opportunities” for its athletes. Clemson Ventures will also help the school adjust for the presumed arrival of directly paying athletes.

Likewise, the Gamecocks turned to a former player agent when it tabbed Jeremiah Donati to succeed athletic director Ray Tanner.

Donati spent the past seven years as the athletic director at TCU, but his background is in law as well as player relations from his days working with mega sports agent Leigh Steinberg.

“In this new era where NIL, gambling, conference realignment, all of a sudden, money has come into recruiting, right,” Steinberg said. “So it’s a function of who has the best collective helping them. It’s a brave new world.

“College sports is about the have and have nots. Jeremiah will figure out how to make South Carolina a recruiting juggernaut, getting and retaining the best athletes.”

Managing editor Jason Cato contributed to this report.