CFB 27 NIL Budget Worksheet: Compare Two Recruiting Plans

Where each number goes

Use the same planning snapshot for both plans. Start with your total program budget before the costs listed below, rather than a remaining balance that already subtracts them. Enter staff and facilities separately, then the current roster total and your recruiting offers.

• Current roster NIL includes the commitments you expect to release later. Subtracting them here and again under departures would double-count the release.
• Projected departures contain only costs already in that roster total. Test uncertain departures separately; a likely release is not money available today.
• Recruiting A and B are alternative totals for the same class. They are not added together.
• Safety reserve is a buffer you choose, not a required game percentage. All fields use Dynasty Points, not real-world dollars.

Worked example: 20-point class or 35-point class?

The initial worksheet uses 100 total points, 15 for staff, 10 for facilities, 40 for the current roster and a 10-point reserve. These are fictional teaching values, not the budget of a particular school. Both plans assume 10 of the current roster points are released next season.

Plan A commits 20 points to recruiting. Current remaining is 100 − 15 − 10 − 40 − 20 = 15. After the 10-point reserve, only 5 points are spendable today. Projected roster cost is 40 − 10 + 20 = 50, leaving 100 − 15 − 10 − 50 − 10 = 15 next-season points.

Plan B commits 35 points. That leaves 0 current points and a 10-point shortfall against the chosen reserve. Projected next-season roster cost becomes 65, leaving 0 projected headroom. A nonnegative next-season result does not make Plan B affordable today while preserving that reserve.

Try changing departures from 10 to 0. Plan A's next-season headroom falls from 15 to 5, while today's spendable amount stays at 5. This is why an uncertain departure belongs in a separate scenario.

Keep annual refresh separate from your scenario

EA describes Dynasty Points as an annual budget that refreshes during End of Season Recap; unused points do not roll over. Staff, facilities and NIL share that budget.

This worksheet holds the entered total, staff, facilities and reserve constant to isolate the recruiting decision. It does not estimate the next annual award, player demands or retention outcomes. Once your save shows refreshed values, enter those actual values and review the plan again.

A negative result identifies a tradeoff in your assumptions. It does not mean the game lets you cancel an existing offer or recover a committed cost. Change only inputs you can actually change, or plan a smaller future commitment.

Read the recruiting vs roster NIL guide

Turn the comparison into a player-by-player plan

Choose Open plan A or Open plan B to carry the worksheet values into the full calculator. The current roster, recruits and departures start as grouped totals; replace them with your own player rows for a detailed plan.

Opening a scenario previews it in the calculator without replacing your saved plan. Choose Save in this browser when you want to replace that plan and enable auto-save. Changes made only on this worksheet are not saved when you leave.

Get the roster, recruiting and departures spreadsheet templates