Contrary to semi-popular belief, NIL spending isn’t the engine that brought Indiana football to its first national championship in program history this past season. But it definitely wasn’t a non-factor.
There’s no precise measurement of NIL-spending. Those figures aren’t listed publicly and you aren’t getting an answer out of coaching or front office staffs. But the college football team over at The Athletic did its best to map out what spending looks like around the country in its latest piece.
The piece itself utilizes a range to roughly determine the amount of money each program had to work with in assembling its 2026 roster.
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As for Indiana, The Athletic’s estimate places the Hoosiers’ 2026 budget in the range of $36 million-$40 million, which puts them at fourth in the Big Ten relative to other programs’ estimates. That number is no doubt significantly boosted by the aforementioned national championship in 2025. One interesting note is that Purdue, Indiana’s rival, sits at the very bottom of the league’s estimated budgets.
Indiana isn’t necessarily swimming in the same spending waters as Ohio State, Miami, Texas, LSU and Oregon, some of which have budgets as high as $50 million or more to work with, but the Hoosiers are spending their money wisely enough to have bested the Buckeyes, Hurricanes and Ducks on the field of play.
The highest spenders are, more often than not, the programs most likely to make College Football Playoff appearances and advance in postseason play. Last year, in spite of a smaller estimated NIL budget than its competitors, Indiana made that work.
Indiana is going to need to continue spending at a competitive rate to stay competitive on the field of play, but the Hoosiers can’t, and won’t, spend for the sake of talent accumulation in the hopes of results. There’s a shining example of where that leads a program just across the parking lot, and I don’t think I need to elaborate any further.
The Hoosiers have spent their money wisely in the first two years under Curt Cignetti, who quickly turned that initial investment ahead of 2024 into proof of concept before going even further beyond in 2025. It’ll be interesting to see where spending goes in the future as roster cost continues climbing.
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