Alabama Was Biggest Spender During College Football Playoffs

The University of Alabama and Clemson University spent $7.3 million and $5.4 million respectively on their two College Football Playoff trips. Since both teams were the top two in college football rankings last year, it makes sense that they would spend the most money on team expenses.

The amount of money spent by both teams were obtained by CBS Sports from the NCAA postseason expense reports for all the teams that made the playoffs. The expenses paid off for the Crimson Tide since they won the national championship, but Clemson also made the money back by making the national championship game.

In the 2014 season, Ohio State spent the most on team expenses with $4.4 million, and their national championship opponents Oregon, spent $3.8 million on their playoff trips.

For the national championship game, Alabama spent $4.8 million on expenses for the national championship game, which was the most for a single playoff game this season. The amount of money Alabama spent on a single individual that made the trip was $5,555, which is the highest average per game in the CFP’s two year history.

Clemson travelled about the same distance as Alabama and spent only $1.6 million on expenses for the national championship game, while Michigan State spent $786,000 less than Alabama when they met at the Cotton Bowl for the semifinals.

To put the amount of money Alabama spent into perspective, in 2010, the team spent $4.3 million for their trip to the BCS championship game. Back then, the NCAA allowed teams to include bonuses that they give out to coaches and administrators as part of their team expenses.

Since that is no longer the case, Alabama spent $6.7 million on the national championship game if you include the bonuses they gave out.

The amount of money spent by the schools in the report do not take into account the money the schools receive from their conferences for making the playoffs, or the money paid out to the teams by the CFP.

Last season, the CFP gave the ACC $70.9 million, the SEC $66.6 million, the Big 10 $65 million, and $57.5 million each to the Big 12 and Pac-12. The conferences also received bonuses from the major bowls like the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.

The bonuses handed out to coaches and administrators by some teams were quite hefty, but still reasonable considering the success the teams had and the money the teams received from the CFP and the major bowls.

Alabama paid out $2 million in bonuses to 62 people. Clemson paid $1.9 million in bonuses, Michigan State paid $1.1 million, and Oklahoma paid $517,000.

As most people imagine, a majority of the expenses by the teams were used to pay for housing and feeding the players. Alabama took 375 team and staff members to the Cotton Bowl, and spent $405,000 more than the Spartans did on their team and staff.

The Crimson Tide took 343 team and staff members to the national championship game, and spent $307,000 more than Clemson did on its team and staff.

Alabama also spent $286,912 on awards for players in their two playoff games, which is allowed under NCAA rules. The bottom line is while the Crimson Tide spent more money than the other teams, it ultimately paid off because they won the national championship.