Texas GM Brandon Harris sets $30 million as 'minimum investment' to compete for national titles

As roster costs continue to rise around college football, the sense is multiple programs will hit the $40 million in 2026. Some, such as Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham, also predicted $50 million could be coming in the not-so-distant future.

But when it comes to the spending floor for teams in the national title hunt, Texas general manager Brandon Harris said it’s probably in the $30 million range. That’s based on what he sees in the SEC as the NIL era continues to evolve.

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Harris’ comments line up with what Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said earlier this week when he said $30 million is the number he’s heard thrown around. Still, it’s a notable increase from where things were a few years ago.

“I think the minimum investment, I would probably say with most teams in the Southeastern Conference, would probably be roughly $30 million,” Harris told Adrian Wojnarowski on The Program with Woj. “I think that’s probably the benchmark. What I would say to you is it’s changed dramatically because we live in a world of capitalism.

“You’re seeing these rosters go up anywhere from probably $21, $22, $23 [million] as it started to build, you probably were 3-5%. Now, you’re at probably 20-25% inflation. And that’s just the cost of doing business. … But in my opinion, the benchmark’s probably around $30 million at minimum for you to be able to spend to give yourself a fighting chance to compete. I think if you do it consistently across the P4 conferences, I think that’s probably where most college teams are at, if they’re honest with themselves.”

Ahead of the 2026 season, On3’s Pete Nakos surveyed 14 Power Four general managers about the biggest spenders. LSU came up among the majority of the group while others such as Texas, Texas Tech and Miami were also mentioned as top spenders.

As for what it takes to win a national title, Alabama general manager Courtney Morgan predicted $40 million is the likely number. That sparked pushback from Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. He said the Hoosiers didn’t spend “even close” to that figure last year en route to a championship.

When it comes to setting the market, though, Brandon Harris called it a challenge because of the amount of teams in FBS. He compared it to professional leagues with roughly 30 teams, which have an easier time figuring out what the market looks like.

“I think naturally, we always talk about, what is the marketplace?” Harris said. “It’s really hard to have a marketplace when there are [136] FBS teams. … Naturally, there’s too many teams to have a true market. That’s why, when you look at the NBA, you look at the NFL, you’ve got 30-32 or any of these other leagues, you don’t have as many.”