Texas coach says every SEC football program has $30 million roster. Does Beamer agree?
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian did not provide any caveats for what seemed like an absurd statement. Well, OK, he had one caveat.
Last week the Longhorns’ head football coach said he believed that every SEC football team was paying $30 million for its roster — “at minimum,” he told reporters.
“I think there are some that are close to $50 million, truthfully,” he added.
A reminder: Schools are only allowed to directly pay student-athletes up to about $20.5 million annually as part of revenue sharing. And that’s not $20.5 million for the football program, it’s for the entire athletic department.
But student-athletes are able to earn additional compensation through third-party NIL deals. In a perfect world, think: Local pizza shop gives a quarterback money to film a commercial. But, in reality, those “third-party NIL deals” have created another way for schools to funnel money to their student-athletes.
It’s no secret that spending at some schools — cough, LSU, cough — had ballooned well over the cap. But Sarkisian’s suggestion that every SEC school was spending $10 million over the cap on football alone seemed insane and, well, fully plausible.
Asked about Sarkisian’s comments Tuesday at the SEC spring meetings in Florida, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer did not argue with the $30 million figure.
“I would say he’s probably not far off,” Beamer told The State. “I think there’s a big range from, are you around the 30-(million) mark, or are you a lot more than that 30-million mark? There’s a little bit of a discrepancy there.”
In other words: Sure, a $30-million roster sounds like big deal until you realize they’re playing against $50-million and $60-million squads.
What also makes these conversations tough to parse is the fact that no one knows for sure how much every football program is spending on their rosters. Those figures are all kept private — and it doesn’t seem like they will be publicized any time soon.
Which means anyone speculating about roster values are simply taking very educated guesses.
“We don’t sit around as coaches and talk about what everyone is paying,” Beamer said. “But from being able to listen to agents and having an idea of what certain guys are getting at certain schools, I don’t think ($30-million rosters) is a far-fetched statement.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Texas coach says every SEC football program has $30 million roster. Does Beamer agree?."
