Some Musings On Husky Football Money Matters

The UW reportedly ranks well behind the college game's biggest spenders.

Jedd Fisch has made brief mention of player payouts in his media briefings. | Dave Sizer photo

One of the best-kept secrets in college football these days is exactly who's getting paid what to play the game with all compensation restrictions summarily lifted and tossed off to the side without looking back.

Removed are all rules that once led to players being publicly scorned for having their hands out, championships or a Heisman Trophy voided because someone received a car or a place to stay, and even a team such as SMU totally dismantled by the death penalty for repeated or extra grievous offenses.

The NCAA formerly operated with a large enforcement squad, which was not unlike a detective unit, repeatedly looking under rocks for donors or coaches guilty of slipping a little something extra to the star player.

While everyone now is puffing out their chests over the exchange of these large sums of money, still practically no one individually steps up and reveals what he's getting.

In a sport supposedly governed by almost no rules, everyone has agreed to abide by one hard-fast stipulation -- keep your financial information to yourself.

Well just this week, The Athletic went after the payout numbers at least team by team, rather than individually, while acknowledging that some schools were never going to reveal the finances involved no matter what and maybe in some cases even provide bad information to protect themselves.

So it's a best guesstimate.

"The best teams are, on average, the ones paying players the most."https://t.co/L2NvppG4xi pic.twitter.com/tAuRG3V95N

— Dr. Derwin L. Gray (@DerwinLGray) September 16, 2026

If these numbers are near ballpark figures, the University of Washington football team trails about three dozen schools in doling out between $21 and $25 million, and finding itself lumped together with fellow Big Ten members Maryland, Michigan State and Northwestern.

While quarterback Demond Williams Jr.'s stipend was revealed to be $4 million by a records release when he contemplated leaving last winter, player restitution has received only fleeting almost surprising mention from Fisch this past spring.

"We're going to have some amazing competition this fall -- we're going to embrace it," the Huskies coach said out of the blue. "We're going to play young or old. It doesn't matter. The guys that make money, the guys that make very little money. It doesn't matter. We're just going to play the guys who want to compete."

One of the reasons the UW may be well down the list of payees is its football donors are still paying off the $260,000 to $280,000 Husky Stadium renovation completed in 2013, work that was so extensive it was almost like constructing a new facility.

The Greatest Setting in College Football naturally comes with a hefty price tag. It didn't help that there were plenty of empty seats for last weekend's UW-Utah State game.

The 25 most expensive rosters in college football that are NOT in the AP Top 25.

Auburn: $29.0M, No. 17 nationally. Unranked.

Florida: $28.1M, No. 18 nationally. Unranked.

Who's the biggest waste of money? pic.twitter.com/WjE5vnIOAB

— Top Tier Utah (@TopTierUtes) September 16, 2026

Also, unlike Oregon, which has Portland-based NIKE funding just about everything and reportedly pays out $48 million to $50 million, Seattle's wealthiest individuals in recent times such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Steve Ballmer each attended Ivy League schools and are not alums.

So the Huskies likely want some sort of legislation in place as much as anyone to set the marketplace because they can only hit up their donors so many times before hearing no.