How NIL Informally Destroyed CFB's Facility Renovation Arms Race
Moving forward, administrations are shifting their focus to establishing well-oiled collectives over fundraising long-term expansion projects.
Welcome to Blue Chip Journal by Adam Breneman — a 2x per-week newsletter with analysis, hot takes, and news on all things college football, NIL, and recruiting. Subscribe now and join nearly 13,000 other sports fans, and share this newsletter with all the college football fans you know!
This newsletter is presented by... Lofta
Everything good begins with healthy rest. Sleep disorders like sleep apnea steal from your precious time and wellbeing. At Lofta, their state of the art innovation helps take it all back.
Whether living with sleep apnea forces you to make adjustments for optimization or to understanding results along the way, Lofta’s goal is to provide you with sleep apnea support therapy for a sleep that you can only dream about.
Click on the link below to receive a 50% off coupon on Lofta’s at home sleep apnea study!
How NIL Informally Destroyed CFB's Facility Renovation Arms Race
Hey friends,
At the turn of the 2010s, several elite college football programs began to plot, fundraise, and allocate millions towards completing complex master plan renovation projects.
From locker room upheaval catering to modern tones, luxury stadium seating, and state-of-the-art weight room upgrades, most NFL players agree that the college setup is far superior in terms of football-centric equipment, training, and nutritional aids.
In 2017, Texas spent $10 million on renovations to its entire athletic center. At the time, football helped the Longhorns’ athletic department maintain a $219 revenue clip, which was then dipped back into gaudy upgrades solely benefitting then-head coach Tom Herman’s group.
Out of the $10 million pool, Texas threw $7 million alone on locker room enhancements, including custom-designed individual locker slots costing about $8,700 each.
At the time, Herman thought the investment would set the foundation and necessary accommodations to fully cater toward future player-driven needs.
"This shows we have the very best tools in the country,” Herman said. “The lockers affect recruiting because the kids we're recruiting are the same ones that some of the best schools in the nation are recruiting. A scholarship is a scholarship is a scholarship, no matter where you go. It's about how you differentiate yourself."
However, Texas’ massive renovation revamp proved the adage “anything you can do, I can do better” to be truer than ever before at the Power Five level.
Just two years later, LSU invested $28 million into facility upgrades, benefitting only the football squad. The locker room space now features nap pods, a performance nutrition station, and an exclusive players’ lounge.
The results of the facility’s final product were so staggering that even former lettermen thought the investment’s magnitude went overboard — including former Pro Bowl safety Eric Reid.
“There are folks who could use a scholarship more than our guys need a TV in their [own] locker,” Reid said. "Those who know me know the amount of love I have for LSU. This is too much though...”
The Tigers’ fiercest rival, Alabama, one-upped LSU a year later with $16 million allocated toward player-improvement initiatives.
While the figure appears less significant than LSU’s investment, the expenditure was pulled for a $107 million offseason renovation targeting Bryant-Denny Stadium’s game day experience.
At the time, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne explained his administration’s basis for the investment:
“When recruits come in and when fans come in on tours, we want to pop,” Byrne said. “And I think everybody would agree that this pops. It shows you the excitement of Alabama football, of Alabama athletics, and it shows you a lot of the history.”
But now, NIL’s ever-lasting effect on college football has dwindled the curb appeal to immediate facility upgrades.
Now, top recruits are following individual dollar signs above all, which has effectively ended the seemingly never-ending renovation arms race.
At most Power Five institutions, the previously implemented infrastructure already promotes cultures of success. The priority is no longer about gaudy upgrades. It’s about bringing in the best possible prospects to grow brand recognition, which then warrants eventual long-term capital projects.
The model above is clear for Power Five industry leaders, but the waters are muddied for lower-profile programs such as USF.
The Bulls began their inaugural season in 1997 after being founded as a university in 1956. For example, Auburn’s founding broke ground 100 years earlier, with several other regional foes following suit.
As a newer program, USF’s administration remains in limbo regarding where its future investments should lie. Recently, the university approved a $340 million plan to construct a 35,000-seat, on-campus stadium.
Although the new facility will serve as the program’s improved command center since moving its operations out of Raymond James Stadium, head coach Alex Golesh told Yahoo! Sports that collective support could provide the lift USF needs to eventually compete among Power Five competitors.
“You can build whatever stadium you want,” Golesh said. “If there’s no players in it, it doesn’t matter.”
But, no matter how hard USF scraps on the NIL front, the university will likely never be able to match the likes of SEC levels.
In 2022, USF’s entire student-athlete population generated $25,000 in NIL deals across 17 varsity squads. Just 275 miles northwest, Florida State football players warranted $1.2 million in contributions from one collective alone.
The disarray is staggering, but it certainly isn’t surprising. And, USF isn’t an outlier, either.
Despite being primed to pull in more than $60 million in revenue distribution from the Big Ten, Maryland is feeling the effects of limited NIL capabilities entering Mike Locksley’s fifth campaign at the helm.
After opening a new $149 million indoor practice complex last year, Locksley simply said his program’s facility alone can’t trump NIL capabilities at rivals looking to poach similar talent levels.
“Unfortunately, we moved in at a time when facilities have been de-emphasized in a recruit’s mind,” Locksley said. “Because they’d get dressed in the trash can for $25,000.”
While the funds are certainly allocated from different pools, the consensus is clear — the race for flashy weight rooms or savvy nutrition centers has been halted by NIL’s overarching presence.
Moving forward, upkeeping current facility levels to remain modern will be the name of the game. The real trajectory indicator solely relies on an administrational vision aligned with supporter buy-in through legal pay-to-play means.
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me by email at adam@brenemanmedia.com.
You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or Facebook.
Shoutout to Connor Krause for helping to write this newsletter and putting it together!
Interested in advertising with Blue Chip Journal? Email me.