Frequently these days, we're reminded that the Alabama Crimson Tide is no longer, in fact, the biggest, baddest recruiting powerhouse in the country. Not with rev-share and NIL essentially serving as a salary cap-less spending spree.
Rev-share has a cap, but NIL doesn't. Schools can only offer $20.5 million as part of the sport's rev-share agreement that went into effect at the start of the 2025-2026 academic calendar. NIL is the supplemental cash that big-time boosters, like Cody Campbell with the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Larry Ellison with the Michigan Wolverines, pay beyond that. How every team's payroll shakes out each season isn't as transparent. It's unclear what comes from the school and how much comes from the boosters. Much of it is via taxpayers, who pick up the slack in states across the South because of tax-free NIL payments to players that exist because of these states' laws.
To that end, the Texas Longhorns have multiple high-spending boosters that can help UT win any bidding war. The Crimson Tide does not.
On3's Shannon Terry reminded the College Football world of that in the aftermath of former NC State Wolf Pack and Oklahoma Sooners running back Hollywood Smothers flipping his commitment from Alabama to Texas on Sunday.
"Another NIL-driven move. Texas is loading up and has the resources to do it. Alabama has resources, but not at this level. 'FU money' is driving the game -- just the facts," Terry wrote.
The Longhorns' booster network is powered by its top donor, TRT Holdings, the parent company of Omni Hotels and Gold's Gym, and its owner, Robert Rowling.
Who is Alabama's top booster?
The Crimson Tide, like Terry, said, isn't broke. C.T. and Kelly Fitzpatrick, the founders of Vulcan Value Partners, a Birmingham-based investment firm, are financially invested in the program. Yea Alabama, the Tide's official NIL collective, also chips in for the cause.
UAT AD Greg Byrne has gotten on Yea Alabama's case for not doing enough spending. We'll see if the fanbase has enough Bama in them to donate the Tide back into contention with deep-pocketed Texas schools.