“They Actually Spent Much More”: Joe Pompliano Explains Why Ohio State’s $20M+ NIL Investment in Their Roster Makes Sense

The Ohio State Buckeyes claimed the first championship of the 12-team College Football Playoff Era on Monday night. Their 34-23 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish gave head coach Ryan Day his first title. Their run to glory came as the No. 8 seed. Despite this reality, why does nobody view their triumph as a Cinderella story?

The Buckeyes boast one of the largest Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) collectives in the country. They had a rumored $20 million budget for the football program alone. However, business analyst Joe Pompliano claims that figure is a serious lowball. His reasoning for this belief came in his latest YouTube video.

“Is it true [Ohio State] spent $20 million on this year’s team? Well, not at all: they actually spent much more… the school’s largest [NIL resource] told On3 that 10 players on [the Buckeyes] made over [$1 million]… combine Ryan Day’s $10.2 million annual salary… [and] paying two assistant coaches $2 million or more… that’s $40 million on salaries alone.”

Pompliano mentioned this doesn’t include “any of the other expenses” associated with maintaining a high-level football team. He then wondered why everyone was specifically making a big deal about Ohio State when they’re far from alone in flooding the streets with dough.

“I just don’t think it matters as much as everyone else seems to think… no one seemed to care or whine online when SEC schools spent years paying players under the table… let’s also not forget that Oregon and Michigan are funded by two of the world’s wealthiest people… there are a dozen other teams right there with them, like Texas, Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss.”

Pompliano believes this unrestrained spending environment is hurting college football. Winning the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl used to mean something. Now, those notable games are merely viewed as stepping stones to a title, per the analyst.

If that becomes the case, fans of the “haves and have-nots” will both suffer in the long run. Hopefully, the sport’s leaders find a way to get a handle on things sooner rather than later.