Much was made about the 2014 NCAA ruling to allow unlimited food for scholarship athletes.
It certainly added value to a full ride while adding to expenses. How much and who ate the most became clear when the 2015-16 NCAA budget information was collected.
According to the document Alabama filed with the NCAA, those meals and snacks cost a total of $838,187 (or 0.58 percent of the department's total expenses).
The NCAA document also provided a snapshot of who ran up the highest bill. And it should not be a surprise.
The Crimson Tide football team accounted for 61.2 percent of the money spent on meals.
The total: $512,656.
Alabama's men's basketball team wasn't far behind in the per-athlete spending. The 12 scholarship players on Avery Johnson's team got an average of $5,725 per player.
For football, that number was $6,031 per athlete.
These totals don't account for meals on the road traveling to games.
Several teams had scholarship totals redacted, making it impossible to calculate the per-player cost. Golf spent the least on the men's side at $6,299 total -- a shade higher than the average football player spent alone.
The men's teams spent $677,088 compared to $161,099 for the women's squads.
"Unlimited snacks? That sounds like good thing," Alabama linebacker Denzel Devall said about the rule when it passed in 2014. "I'm all for it."
A full team-by-team breakdown of how much was spent on unlimited food in 2015-16.
| Men's teams | Total | % of total | Schol. athletes | Per athlete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | $32,485 | 3.9% | 28 | $1,160 |
| Basketball | $68,700 | 8.2% | 12 | $5,725 |
| Football | $512,656 | 61.2% | 85 | $6,031 |
| Golf | $6,299 | 0.8% | Redacted | n/a |
| Swim/dive | $28,899 | 3.4% | 29 | $997 |
| Tennis | $11,176 | 1.3% | Redacted | n/a |
| Track/XC | $16,873 | 2.0% | 28 | $603 |
| Women's teams | ||||
| Basketball | $5,713 | 0.7% | Redacted | n/a |
| Golf | $3,595 | 0.4% | Redacted | n/a |
| Gymnastics | $13,117 | 1.6% | Redacted | n/a |
| Rowing | $42,170 | 5.0% | 37 | $1,140 |
| Soccer | $17,379 | 2.1% | 24 | $724 |
| Softball | $14,277 | 1.7% | Redacted | n/a |
| Swim/dive | $28,497 | 3.4% | 32 | $891 |
| Tennis | $5,754 | 0.7% | Redacted | n/a |
| Track/XC | $17,073 | 2.0% | 43 | $397 |
| Volleyball | $13,524 | 1.6% | Redacted | n/a |
