Cal Reportedly Ranks in the Middle of ACC Teams in Player Payment Allotment

When it comes to the amount of money allotted to football players, Cal’s budget ranks about in the middle of Power 4 conference schools.

At least that is according to a report by The Athletic, which did research to determine an estimation of what each Power Four conference school is able to spend to pay players this season.

The Athletic phrases it this way: “The numbers here refer to the amount of money a school had at its disposal to assemble its 2026 roster.”

According to The Athletic’s calculation, Cal has a budget of between $20 million and $24 million to pay its football players. That ranks tied for 40th among the 68 Power Four conference schools, and is ninth among the 17 teams in the ACC, although the difference between the fifth-highest ACC player-payment budget and the 11th-highest is relatively small.

It probably comes as no surprise that the amount of money in a school’s budget to pay football players corresponds strongly with the team’s national ranking.

The top 14 teams in terms of player-payment budgets all rank in this week’s AP top 25. This week’s No. 1 team, Texas, ranks third in player-payment budgets, and Ohio State, which was No. 1 before losing in the last seconds to Texas, ranks No. 1 in player payment allotments, tied with Oregon, with an estimated budget of $49 million to $54 million.

The highest ranked ACC team in the AP poll, fifth-ranked Miami, is also the ACC team with the biggest player-payment budget, at between $44 million and $50 million, which ranks as the sixth-highest budget among Power Four schools.

However, Miami is the only ACC school in the top 20 of player-payment budgets nationally. That may account for why the ACC is so unpredictable this season, after the fact that Miami is the clear favorite. Which team is the second-best team in the ACC is very much open for debate at this point. That’s why some believe Cal, which does not face Miami or Louisville this season, has an outside chance to reach the ACC championship game. (The Bears are 1-1 overall, 1-0 in the ACC, and host Wagner on Saturday.)

For the 2026-27 academic year, schools are allowed to spend up to $21.58 million to all its athletes in revenue sharing. However, that does not include NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money provided by outside parties.

Quarterbacks typically get the most money, and Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele gets $3 million in NIL deals, according to a report by the San Francisco Standard.

Here is how ACC schools rank in The Athletic’s report of budgets to play football players:

--- 1. Miami -- $44-$50 million

--- 2. Clemson – $29-$32 million

--- 3. Virginia Tech – $25-$30 million

--- 3. Florida State – $25-$30 million

--- 5. Georgia Tech – $23-$26 million

--- 6. North Carolina State – $22-$26 million

--- 7. Louisville -- $22-$25 million

--- 8. North Carolina -- $20-$25 million

--- 9. Cal -- $20-$24 million

--- 9. Virginia – $20-$24 million

--- 11. SMU -- $21-$23 million

--- 12. Syracuse -- $17-$22 million

--- 13. Pitt -- $16-$20 million

--- 13. Stanford -- $16-$20 million

--- 13. Wake Forest -- $16-$20 million

--- 16. Duke -- $12-$15 million

--- 17. Boston College -- $8-$13 million

The ranking is similar to the predicted order of finish in the ACC preseason poll, with SMU and Florida State being a notable exceptions.

Preseason ACC predicted order of finish based on a media poll:

--- 1. Miami

--- 2. SMU

--- 3. Louisville

--- 4. Clemson

--- 5. Georgia Tech

--- 6. Virginia

--- 7. North Carolina State

--- 8. Virgina Tech

--- 9. Pitt

--- 10. Duke

--- 11. Florida State

--- 12. Cal

--- 13. Wake Forest

--- 14. Syracuse

--- 15. North Carolina

--- 16. Boston College

--- 17. Stanford

Follow California Golden Bears on SI on X: https://x.com/jakecurtis53

Find California Golden Bears on SI on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Add us as a preferred source on Google