Cincinnati sports fans don’t usually start talking about the Crosstown Shootout until Thanksgiving. However, today, we already know something important: now that both Xavier and UC have finished constructing their rosters through the transfer portal, the winner may be the school that spent the most money.
Between them, the two programs will reportedly spend $25 million on basketball talent this season.
The professionalization of college hoops
Xavier tried to compete in the Big East with a $5 million to $6 million roster and discovered that it was undercapitalized for the modern marketplace. The university increased its NIL payroll into the low to mid-teens and began acquiring professional talent from Europe.
They signed Rubén Domínguez, a 24-year-old seasoned professional with MVP honors in international European competition. He’s not a recruit. He’s an acquisition − a fully formed professional player who will now wear a Xavier jersey. This is what the market rewards now: age, experience, and immediate production, not long-term potential.
UC took a different approach. After firing Wes Miller, the university hired Jerrod Calhoun as a turnaround specialist and reportedly backed him with a NIL budget exceeding $10 million. UC rebuilt its roster with veteran players capable of surviving the week-to-week grind of the Big 12.
The roster now stretches across the globe, with players from Estonia, Spain, France, Senegal, and Brazil. This is no longer a traditional college roster. It is a multinational basketball workforce.
The portal didn’t just change recruiting. It fundamentally altered the value of the high school prospect. Unless you are an elite national recruit, the path to meaningful minutes at the high-major level increasingly runs through the transfer market, not the high school gym.
Cincinnati’s new basketball economy
The Crosstown Shootout is no longer simply a campus rivalry. It is a balance-sheet war.
Xavier’s lesson was straightforward: When competitors outspend you, raise capital.
UC’s lesson was equally corporate: When leadership fails to produce results, replace management and reinvest.
Greater Cincinnati now hosts two universities willing to spend extraordinary sums assembling basketball labor in pursuit of relevance, tournament bids, television visibility, and donor momentum.
For anyone who remembers − and still laments − that Cincinnati once lost its NBA franchise, take note: Professional basketball has returned to this city. It just happens to be wearing college jerseys.
In 2026, the Shootout may not be decided by tradition, development, or coaching. It may simply be decided by which university assembled the more expensive basketball portfolio.
And if the cheaper roster wins, it will simply prove that sometimes the most expensive asset can still be a lemon.
Dennis Doyle lives in Anderson Township and is a member of the Enquirer Board of Contributors.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Crosstown Shootout may be won by the highest bidder | Opinion
Reporting by Dennis Doyle, Opinion contributor / Cincinnati Enquirer
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