For better or for worse, you are what you spend in today’s age of college athletics. We got an idea of just how much the UCLA Bruins have spent on their football team this season thanks to writer David Ubben, Sam Khan Jr. and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.
The Athletic projected that UCLA football has spent $26-30 million on their roster
. So far it’s hard to argue with the investment, with the team looking vastly improved this season under first-year head coach Bob Chesney.To no one’s surprise, the correlation between the top spenders and the top programs are strong. Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, LSU and Texas A&M are among the top spenders for 2026 and all of them are currently ranked in the Top-25.
Oregon, Texas and Ohio State are the top-three
biggest spenders according to The Athletic’s report, with Oregon at between $48-54 million, Ohio State at $49-54 million and Texas at $45-55 million.
That means the Bruins are spending roughly half as much on their roster as the top contenders in the sport. Eight other Big Ten teams are listed ahead of the Bruins in the ranking, with USC, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State and Wisconsin joining Oregon and Ohio State with higher roster budgets than UCLA.
The Big Ten has plenty of big spenders but the SEC remains as the conference with the deepest pockets, with 11 of the Top-20 biggest spenders coming from the SEC. It’s just year one for Chesney in Westwood, and surely the new Bruins head coach plans on helping UCLA climb the list in the coming years.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: How much does The Athletic project UCLA spends on their roster?
