It’s no secret that college football recruiting has become a big-money industry. Since the NCAA (begrudgingly) began allowing players to reap name, image and likeness benefits, we’ve seen a fundamental change in high school players’ recruiting processes.
Though NIL deals, at least nominally, must be arranged by a third party, cannot be based on performance nor serve as an inducement for a player to attend a particular school, schools have a lot more latitude to spend cash from their own pockets when it comes to official recruiting visits.
And when you’re hosting the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, you better be prepared to open up the checkbook.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Athletic, we now know the details of 2023 quarterback prospect Arch Manning’s official visit back in June. Manning is the nephew of former NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning.
And to call that trip “extravagant” would be an understatement.
Per The Athletic‘s Sam Khan Jr., Texas hosted a total of nine recruits (including Manning) the weekend of June 17. All told, the school reportedly spent $280,000. But hey, Manning committed three days later, so maybe it was all worth it.
Even throwing out relatively routine fees like travel, which still cost the school a total of $21,000, these expenditures are absolutely bonkers. Here are some of the highlights.
A five-star hotel
Texas hosted recruits at the five-star Four Seasons Austin, the same hotel where Queen Elizabeth II stayed during her visit to Texas in 1991.
The swanky hotel oversees Lady Bird Lake, and UT spent nearly $50,000 on these accommodations.
Posh hotels in downtown Austin are pricey compared to their smaller college town counterparts: Texas spent $46,696 on the 34 rooms it booked for recruits, family members and some UT coaches and staffers. That total factors in a group rate of $419 per night for most of the rooms. A reservation for an individual two-night stay this weekend shows the lowest room rate at $870 per night and most well above $1,000 a night.
Add in a more than $17,000 lunch buffet when players and their families arrived at the hotel and the cost of stocking each room with snacks, and Texas reportedly spent more than $65,000 before the recruits even stepped on campus.
Custom cakes
When I said that each room was stocked with snacks, I wasn’t lying. Players received customized cakes with burnt orange and white icing, cookies, and all their favorite candies and snacks.
Four-star cornerback Malik Muhammad had two types of Jack Links beef jerky, Skittles, Twix and Trolli gummy worms among his personal bounty. Parents and siblings received similar treatment, because NCAA rules allow schools to provide lodging, meals and entertainment for up to four of a recruits’ family members on official visits.
All told, this added nearly another $2,000 to the bill.
An ice sculpture
For dinner the first night of the visit, Texas hosted a buffet at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. That meal included an ice sculpture and cost the school $29,129.40.
And that wasn’t even the priciest dinner of the weekend — more on that later.
An open bar (for the parents)
These recruiting visits aren’t just about making an impression on the prospects themselves. While the recruits hit the town, Texas hosted a “parents’ social” at the rooftop bar of the J.W. Marriott. And when I say open, I mean open.
One parent reportedly ordered a $70 glass of Johnnie Walker Blue.
The final receipt length rivaled that of your local CVS. After more than $6,000 worth of liquor, $756 of hors d’oeuvres, a smattering of beer and wine, a 20 percent service charge and a $2,400 rental fee, the pool bar tab came out to $11,880. According to the university handbook, all alcohol purchases for entertainment and official occasions related to athletics are processed, approved and purchased via donations. (The university is exempt from state sales tax and mixed beverage sales tax.)
Sounds like a party.
Rented speakers (to set the mood)
Recruiting photoshoots have become standard practice and one of the most anticipated events on a trip like this. Setting the correct ambiance is key.
That’s why, in spite of the stadium’s perfectly good sound system, Texas spent another $3,000+ to rent on-field speakers. The justification for why is just fantastic.
The shoots take time. Bored recruits and family members can quickly kill the vibe of a visit, so Texas used multiple locations simultaneously to keep everyone engaged. Music, played through speakers UT rented, set the mood. DKR has a quality sound system, but when the stands are empty, loud music from it creates an echo. So the staff rented speakers (price tag: $3,359.12) to put on the field to keep the acoustics pleasant.
It’s all about the vibes
A trip to Top Golf
After a breakfast buffet on Saturday — which cost another $10,000, give or take — the players, their families and the coaching staff took a trip to TopGolf.
Plenty of food and drinks were on hand: three types of fajitas, guacamole and queso, rice, black beans, desserts, beer and liquor. Total tab for 75 guests: $9,497.72.
Not everyone attended TopGolf, as Texas also provided an alternate shuttle back to the hotel for those looking to catch a nap.
A $30k steak dinner
I told you we would circle back to the dinners and on the second night of the trip, the group had a steak dinner at III Forks, an upscale steakhouse just blocks away from the Four Seasons in downtown Austin.
They consumed a veritable bounty of food.
Attendees ate enough to get the meat sweats: Forty-six 7-ounce lobsters, 34 bone-in ribeyes, 26 8-ounce filets, 17 New York strips, sea bass, chicken fried lobster, lobster mac and cheese, the list went on.
In total, the bill at the restaurant rang up at $36,900 after fees and a $6,000 gratuity.
A lake cruise
Before calling it a night on a busy Saturday, the group had one more activity in store: a cruise on Lady Bird Lake complete with a full ice cream bar,
Through the hour-long cruise — which cost $2,357.50 — recruits’ families enjoyed the Austin skyline and sundaes from Amy’s Ice Cream, with choices of Mexican vanilla, dark chocolate, Oreo, nonfat and nondairy, and toppings ranging from M&Ms, sprinkles and pecans to hot fudge and fresh-cut strawberries.
While all of this may sound ridiculous, FOIA requests of other major programs would likely result in similar findings for major recruiting weekends. And after all, the Longhorns ultimately landed four of the players on the trip, and a fifth remains uncommitted.
You can question the methods, but it’s hard to argue with the result. And the result is a class that currently ranks second in the country for coach Steve Sarkisian.
