Ohio State’s National Championship Winning Roster Priced at Nearly $20M
Last Updated on January 21, 2025
Ohio State University’s football program has set a new benchmark in collegiate athletics by securing the national championship with a roster reportedly bolstered by approximately $20 million in name, image, and likeness deals.
The Buckeyes won the College Football Playoff National Championship against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Monday night, 34-23. The victory gave Ohio State its ninth title in program history, tying Southern California for sixth most all time.
Ohio State’s substantial investment in NIL agreements is believed to be among the highest in college sports, reflecting a strategic approach to attracting and retaining top-tier talent. To put it into perspective, Ohio State can offer more NIL-allotted money to the players on their football team than most other schools have in their entire athletic department budget combined.
“THE Foundation” is Ohio State’s collective of boosters and donors created to help raise awareness for charities in the community through the use of the Ohio State football and men’s basketball players as “brand ambassadors.” Through the combination of a successful collective and deep involvement in fundraising by head coach Ryan Day, the Buckeyes were able to sustain one of the highest NIL “payrolls” in college athletics.
Front Office Sports accredits the combination of an unregulated transfer portal and lucrative NIL opportunities as responsible for a new era of “unrestricted free agency” in college football, allowing teams to overhaul their rosters entirely each season.
Ohio State capitalized on this trend, bringing in quarterback Will Howard from Kansas State and highly touted freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. However, the Buckeyes also retained a strong core of returning players, many of whom chose to return to Columbus for another season rather than explore transfer options or enter the NFL Draft.
Jack Sawyer, Ryan Day’s first commit in 2019, remained a Buckeye for his entire career and was eventually named team captain. Sawyer spent his previous offseason convincing as many of his teammates as possible to play in college for one more year. Highlighting the school’s NIL involvement, Sawyer told Front Office Sports that the program has provided “great opportunities” all season for NIL involvement.
This victory for the Buckeyes demonstrates the ability of NIL to serve as an essential and transformative tool in collegiate athletics, enabling programs to assemble championship-caliber teams through strategic financial investments.
2024-25 College Football Playoff Payouts
Along with the new 12-team playoff came a new revenue distribution model. The value of each team’s payouts are determined that the round that they advanced to. Here is a basic breakdown of the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff payouts, but take a look at the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff Schedule and Payouts by Kristi Dosh for a deeper dive into this year’s model and revenue distribution.
- $4 million for each of the 12 teams that make the College Football Playoff
- $4 million for each of the eight teams that make the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
- $6 million for each of the four teams that make the College Football Playoff Semifinals
- $6 million for each of the two teams that make the College Football Playoff National Championship Game
Each team that participated in the College Football Playoff also received an additional $3 million to help cover expenses for each round. Based on the field of 12, teams were looking at the following numbers going into the tournament:
- Big Ten (4 teams, including a first-round bye): $20M
- SEC (3 teams, including a first-round bye): $16M
- ACC (2 teams): $8M
- Big 12 (1 team): $4M
- Mountain West (1 team): $4M
- Notre Dame: $4M
A few conferences also gave their teams participating in the playoff games additional bonuses and awards. Click here to read more about the bonuses participating conferences agreed to pay their teams.
