An investigation into football recruiting costs shows Wisconsin to be among the most frugal

Jeff Potrykus

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin cheerleaders lead the football team onto the filed before their game against Western Kentucky on Aug. 31, 2018 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

MADISON – So how much does the school for which you cheer spend on football recruiting?

The USA TODAY Network tried to answer that question and examined the 2017-18 fiscal year and how the costs have changed since the end of the 2012-13 academic year.

One caveat is that the costs for each school can differ. For example, schools that have the use of a private plane for recruiting trips generally will have lower costs.

According to the investigation:

Wisconsin’s recruiting costs for 2017-18 were $350,695. That was the No. 13 mark in the Big Ten, ahead of only Maryland ($339,299). Figures for Northwestern weren't available, however. It also represented a 36.5% increase from 2012-13.

Michigan led all Big Ten schools at $1,397,784 in 2017-18, followed by Penn State at $1,369,428, Nebraska at $1,250,674, Minnesota at $1081,075, Ohio State at $944,354, Rutgers at $824,271, Michigan State at $766,139, Illinois at $739,680, Indiana at $692,972, Iowa at $608,755 and Purdue at $555,565.

Among the Power Five conference public universities, Georgia led the way with $2,626,622 spent to recruit football players during the 2017-18 fiscal year.