Brian Kelly revealed that LSU football spent around $18 million on its 2025 roster, which is more than triple the amount the Tigers spent last season.
The number is a combination of revenue that the athletic department is now allowed to share with its players and donor-backed name, image and likeness (NIL) deals sourced largely from Bayou Traditions, LSU's official booster collective.
“We’re going to be just about $18 million," Kelly said Thursday on his weekly radio show.
LSU spent $5.5 million on the roster last season and $11 million over the previous three years combined, the general counsel of Bayou Traditions previously told The Advocate. The Tigers went 9-4 last year during Kelly's third season.
As a result of the landmark House settlement, teams now have more money to spend. Schools across the country can share up to $20.5 million with their players during the 2025-26 academic year, a de facto salary cap that will rise annually over the next 10 years.
LSU, like many in the SEC, allocated $13.5 million of the revenue sharing budget for its football program. Kelly and LSU general manager Austin Thomas previously said that money will be used on both the 2025 and 2026 teams because revenue sharing operates on the academic calendar.
Kelly made the comment while talking about how the salary cap compares to the NFL.
“Look, the NFL is $280 million a year in salary cap. We’re going to be just about $18 million,” Kelly said. “There’s a big difference between $280 million and $18 million. So, if you can’t see the difference between the two, then you’re not really understanding that what you want to develop your son to be is the best version of himself, so he can get the big money in three years."
Most of the money from Bayou Traditions was front-loaded through NIL agreements finalized before July 1, the date the House settlement took effect. At that time, collectives across the country had to begin abiding by new restrictions meant to curb pay-for-play deals.
“We had a plan that I think was advanced for everybody else and that was that we were going to front-load a lot of our players prior to revenue sharing,” Kelly said. “And so we wouldn’t be in a position where, when we got to revenue-sharing, we couldn’t compete.
“Pulling from both of those resources really allowed us, from a contractual standpoint, to get a little bit of a jump on the crowd, if you will, because everybody now sees that plan and will be using it. But it gave us a real boomerang effect in terms of recruiting and it helped us with our freshman recruiting, as well.”
Using NIL money from the collective, LSU planned to pay out at least $10 million in the first half of 2025, multiple people with knowledge of the plan said. It did not factor into the salary cap. Kelly said LSU then used revenue sharing funds "to kind of put them over the top."
A fundraising push for the NIL money began during the 2024 season. It helped LSU sign the nation's No. 1 transfer class, according to 247Sports, creating a roster that Kelly believes can compete for an SEC championship and a College Football Playoff berth.
Kelly pledged to match $1 million in donations. The campaign raised $3.23 million, LSU officials said. The majority of the money — $1.23 million from fans and $1 million from an unnamed booster — went to Bayou Traditions. Kelly's donation was put into the Tiger Athletic Foundation's scholarship fund.
Before the fundraising, LSU officials said they were behind other top teams in terms of spending for the past few years.
