We are currently in a new age of college sports. Players are now able to be paid legally through NIL payments. It's led to a bit of an arms race in college athletics as universities scramble to set up NIL funds and fund them with their donors. In many ways, it has obviously started to veer college sports into the world of professional sports. However, unlike pro sports, how much money each team is spending isn't readily available information. CBS Sports had a great piece of reporting this week that shed some light on what teams are spending, and they have Michigan State basketball in their respectable Tier 3.
According to the article, which was written by Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter, MSU is projected to be spending $15.1 million to $17.5 million per year. Other teams in this range are: Arizona, Gonzaga, LSU, USC, Houston, and Miami, to name a few.
This is about what I expected to hear. Tom Izzo has made it clear he's willing to play ball in this modern era of NIL, but I also didn't expect him to be going crazy with those payments, especially since he prefers to stick with developing his own players instead of trying to attract several pricey transfers each offseason.
Some notable teams in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 brackets are Duke, Michigan, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and UConn, for reference.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: How Michigan State basketball stacks up to other teams in NIL payments