New Nebraska AD Discloses Big Ten Rivals’ Huge NIL Budgets
When the Nebraska Cornhuskers hired Troy Dannen to replace Trev Alberts as athletic director, they were hiring a leader who had experience with big Name, Image and Likeness money at his former school.
Earlier this week he disclosed just how much NIL money the Washington Huskies had, how much other Big Ten schools have and at how much of a disadvantage that puts the Huskers at right now.
Dannen was at Washington for six months. During that time the Huskies reached the College Football Playoff and the National Championship Game, where they lost to the Michigan Wolverines. When Alberts left for Texas A&M, the Huskers went after the Marshalltown, Iowa, native and brought him closer to home.
One of his tasks, at least for now, is to boost Nebraska’s NIL game. During a speech in front of the 1890 Collective, which supports Nebraska sports, he let them know just how far Nebraska was behind schools like Washington, Oregon and Ohio State, all of which are Big Ten schools now that the Huskies and Ducks are set to move in come July.
“At Washington, our football program last year had an NIL budget of about $10 million and went to the national championship game,” he said in comments relayed by FootballScoop.com. “Oregon's is 23 (million); Ohio State's is 23 (million). Ours here is not even 10 (million).”
Dannen said that right now Nebraska isn’t fighting an “even fight.”
But he had some good news.
"We have the facilities, we have the coaches, we have the fans,” Dannen said. “In the next couple years, we'll be fighting an even fight.”
Why? Dannen made these comments before the House vs. NCAA settlement. As part of that settlement, once approved, schools can share up to $20 million in revenue with student-athletes every year. If approved, that should start with the 2025-26 athletic year.
Dannen told boosters that the Huskers are already planning ahead.
“In the budget of our athletic department right now, we have a $20 million placeholder in two years to share money with our athletes,” Dannen said. “It's in the budget right now. There's three schools in the country, I think, that have that in their budget right now: Georgia, Texas and us.”
NIL may or may not go away, but the Huskers are clearly preparing to catch up with the rest of the Big Ten as soon as possible.
MATTHEW POSTINS
Matthew Postins covers baseball for several SI/Fan Nation sites. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com and Rodeo for Rodeodaily.com.