Which Football program spent most NIL funds in 2026 transfer portal?

Name, image and likeness rights have become the lifeblood of college sports. The importance of NIL for college football is paramount if a program wants to compete for a national title. Heck, Texas Tech used to be a fly on the wall in big time college football. Now the Red Raiders are openly challenging blue bloods. Sports Casting Bets has estimated NIL spending throughout college football and ranks the programs that spend the most on the transfer portal.

According to the website, the No. 1 spender on the portal was the Texas Longhorns. The site estimates Texas spent $23.0 million dollars on the players it signed in January. Which makes sense, because UT also had the No. 1 ranked transfer class.

“Texas sits at the top of the NIL rankings because it has solved every part of the funding puzzle. The Longhorns benefit from a massive alumni base, ultra-wealthy individual donors and corporate partnerships that scale far beyond most programs. That money flows through a combination of established collectives and direct institutional planning tied to revenue sharing.” – David Evans of Sports Casting Bets

The University of Texas have the biggest endowment and Longhorns football makes the most revenue and is the most valuable of any team in the country. But the secret sauce according to Evans is the unity within the operation.

“What truly separates Texas is alignment. Boosters, administrators, and football leadership operate with the same priorities. NIL decisions are made quickly, deals are structured cleanly, and money is available before players enter the portal. Texas is not scrambling to raise funds in January. The budget is already there.” – David Evans of Sports Casting Bets

The alignment is so complete, Arch Manning, arguably the biggest name in college sports, took a pay cut from the general NIL fund to free up capital to sign players.

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Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia and the Texas A&M Aggies round out the top five. Tech is all the way up No. 15 after booster Cody Campbell got rich on shale. The rules may change again, but for now Texas is the big money program and everyone else is trying to catch up.

January College Football Transfer Portal Budgets

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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Which College Football team spent most NIL cash on transfer portal?