Notre Dame’s 2026 football roster is reported at about $40.4 million in combined revenue share and NIL, sixth in the country behind Texas, Miami, Ohio State, LSU and Oregon and ahead of every SEC program except Texas and LSU. For a school with roughly 9,000 undergraduates and no conference, that number is the clearest sign of how the Irish have decided to compete in the paid era: spend broadly, keep the quarterback, and use the NBC contract the way other schools use a conference distribution.
| Rank | Team | 2026 roster |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | $47.9M |
| 2 | Miami | $44M |
| 3 | Ohio State | $43.5M |
| 4 | LSU | $42.8M |
| 5 | Oregon | $42.8M |
| 6 | Notre Dame | $40.4M |
| 7 | Texas A&M | $38.9M |
| 8 | Alabama | $37.2M |
Roster figures are industry estimates compiled from On3, The Athletic and school reporting, not audited numbers; the full list is on most expensive rosters.
The Highest Paid Irish
CJ Carr is the only Notre Dame player in On3’s NIL 100 at $3 million, 12th nationally, a retention number rather than a portal number because he has never been on the market. That is by design: Notre Dame’s roster is built from high school recruiting with selective portal additions, and the money is spread across the two deep rather than stacked on three stars. The quarterback’s full breakdown is on CJ Carr NIL.
How an Independent Pays
Every Power Four school gets a conference television check; Notre Dame gets its own. The NBC agreement, which runs through 2029 and is worth a reported $50 million or more a year, plus the ACC’s partial share for the five ACC games the Irish play each season, funds a budget that is competitive with the top of the SEC. Notre Dame opted into the House settlement and pays the full revenue share cap ($21.3 million for 2026 to 27) like everyone else, with third party NIL through its collective on top. The one structural disadvantage is the playoff: no conference title means no automatic bid, so a $40 million roster still has to finish in the top seven at large. That math is on Notre Dame playoff odds and why is Notre Dame independent.
The Bottom Line
Notre Dame spends about $40.4 million on its 2026 roster, sixth in the country, funded by its own television deal rather than a conference share, with CJ Carr its only $3 million player. The program pays like an SEC school and schedules like an independent, and the November 7 Miami game will tell you whether that is enough. Every team’s number: most expensive rosters; the conference view: NIL rankings by conference.