The Cost of Prestige: Football Ain't Cheap

What is the cost of football success? What defines success? What is the role of football success in the desire for prestige? Because, in the end, prestige is the goal.

At its simplest understanding, football is a game: one team wins, another loses. Its sum is zero. But, can an institution purchase a better chance at winning more? Moreover, what defines "success" at any institution? Is a 7-5 season good enough? 10-2? Or, must one compete for a championship every year?  What is the willingness to invest in football success and what is its cost? How much money do institutional leaders feel they are obligated to spend to find leaders (coaches) to attain gridiron greatness?  

For instance, how much is the cost to be a CFP semifinalist? From 2015-2020, it cost a total of $979 million in football expenses for this year's four CFP semifinalists (Table 1). According to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, total football spending (e.g. the amount it cost to put a team on the gridiron, including coaching salaries, student scholarships and cost of attendance bonuses) over those six years was: $376.2 million at Alabama, $57.8 million at Cincinnati, $296.7 million at Georgia, and $292.9 million at Michigan. About a third of that ($306 million) went into coaches' pockets. 

Table 1. Total Football Spending from 2015-2020 by 2021 CFP Semifinalists

It turns out, institutions of higher learning spend quite a lot on football leadership. Within the NCAA's most competitive and prestigious division, Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), each school is allowed a maximum of 10 football coaches per NCAA rules. 51 of the public schools in the Power 5 conferences paid $584 million to 510 football coaches in 2020, nearing the amount of nearly $712 million spent on scholarships and cost of attendance for more than 25,000 scholarship athletes in all sports at public schools in the Power 5 (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC).

What is the cost of prestige through football leadership for an individual school?

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