History may look back at this era of college football as the Big Bank Take Little Bank Revolution in college athletics, and the Texas Longhorns are flexing their financial muscles as they enter the SEC, looking to become the top dog.
How Much Did Texas Spend on the SEC Welcome Party?
In a report from Sportico, the University of Texas spent $2.3 million on an on-campus party to celebrate their arrival into the SEC which included a performance from Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull.
In the report, Sportico details how $889,000 of the cost was paid directly by the school’s athletic department, plus an additional $339,000 spent on advertising. The information was provided via a document obtained by Sportico through an open records request.
The remainder of the cost, roughly $1.07 million, was assumed by multimedia partner Learfield who noted that $610,000 of the $1.07 million was payment for talent fees for Pitbull and another artist.
While schools celebrating their arrival is nothing new (the University of Oregon launched a giant floating duck in the White River in Indianapolis), the sheer amount that Texas spent on what amounts to a giant party is telling.
The consistent theme throughout all conference media days has been money.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips spent a good amount of his time in front of media members talking about the amount of money they distributed to their conference members and the potential for more.
Brett Yormark has essentially announced that every part of his conference, including the name, is up for sale if the price is right.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports recently reported that football roster sizes will be set at 105 as part of the House vs. NCAA settlement, ushering in the new revenue-sharing model that will begin in 2025-26. The increase from the previous limit of 85 will allow schools to distribute $20 million plus annually to student-athletes moving forward.
It is a clear indicator that schools are all on the hunt for more dollars to balance a previous financial model that primarily allocated resources to facilities, uniforms, and other goods rather than actual compensation.
In an era where money seems to dictate the conversation in so many aspects, from media deals to NIL, facilities improvement, and now the potential for revenue sharing, Texas is flexing on another level.
The Texas athletic department has been well-known, if not even notorious, for being one of the few programs in college football to actually turn a profit on top of consistently being in the top five for total revenue generation.
If money is the metric, the Longhorns have positioned themselves well to dive into this new future of pay-for-play with a Scrooge McDuck-like pool. Thankfully, Bevo and company won’t be so cash-strapped that they may consider swapping their trademark “Hook ‘Em” for Dale anytime soon.
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