With all the talk about money, and certain universities throwing money at certain sports, I thought it would be interesting to look at the numbers regarding this question: How does a top budget for a given sport compare to how the team ranked at the end of the season? Is more money translating into a higher ranking?
I am selectively looking at some of the so-called minor sports – baseball, softball, volleyball, and women’s basketball – along with men’s basketball. We list some basic budget numbers
based on what is publicly available, and some are estimates. Also, NIL is not included. Most private universities – TCU, Notre Dame, Duke, etc. – do not publicly release budget information on any of their departments and are not included.
2025
Here were the 12 biggest spenders in softball in 2025:
- University of Oklahoma: $7,724,358
- University of Tennessee: $5,807,620
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln: $4,631,302
- Texas A&M University: $4,490,934
- University of Florida: $4,481,513
- Clemson University: $4,313,465
- University of Washington: $4,296,701
- University of Texas at Austin: $4,048,926
- University of Oregon: $4,007,540
- University of South Carolina: $3,970,575
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA): $3,945,889
- University of Alabama: $3,887,893
Washington was unranked, so their RPI is listed.
Other than Washington, the other 11 teams arguably get bang out of their budgets. They go fairly deep in the NCAA tournament and many make it to Oklahoma City. Washington, however, does not get comparable bang out of their basic budget in 2025.
2026
- University of Oklahoma – $7.7 million
- University of Tennessee – $5.8 million
- University of Alabama – $3.79 million
- University of Missouri – $3.7 million
- Oklahoma State University – $3.48 million
- Auburn University – $3.5 million
- University of Texas at Austin – $3.42 million
- University of Mississippi – $3.39 million
- LSU – $3.32 million
- University of Florida – $3.18 million
- University of Arkansas – $3.18 million
- University of Arizona – $2.99 million
In 2026, most of the top spenders get to the NCAA tournament and some get to Oklahoma City, but we have three teams – Missouri, Auburn, and Ole Miss – that end the season unranked, with Missouri and Auburn not making the NCAA tournament.
