Ryan Day says Ohio State Football needs $13 million in NIL

The Ohio State football program is starting to learn how to navigate the NIL waters. They already dealt with it with the Quinn Ewers situation. Now, Ryan Day is taking the issue head-on and is trying to get some boosters to understand where his program is right now.

According to Cleveland.com, Day was speaking to owners of over 100 businesses on Thursday morning. While talking to them, he says that he believes the Buckeyes will need $13 million of NIL money just to keep the current roster intact as it is now.

That’s just for the current roster. That doesn’t include what NIL money they could potentially need for incoming recruits. Money for them was not discussed at this meeting. That’s a whole separate amount that will need to be brought to the table as well for future recruits.

$13 million might sound high because it is. Big-time college football is big business now. Kids wanting to play football with the Ohio State football program know they can get a lot of NIL money depending on where they want to play. Day recognizes that.

Day knows that each recruit, and each member on his current roster, is just one phone call away from being taken away from the Buckeyes. He’s trying to get out in front of that by letting these potential boosters know what the stakes are and how much it’s going to cost.

You may not like it, but this is how college football is going to be run now. NIL is going to be king for a lot of recruits. Everyone within the Ohio State football program knows it too. How much they pay these kids could ultimately determine whether or not this team can win national championships in the future.

We’ll see how many of these local businesses are able to step up and help the Buckeyes.