How much cash do I have to blow to be able to beat out a similar-prestiged SIm AI in a  recruiting battle these days? It used to be easy, but now I think its gotten much tougher. Assuming I'm within 200 miles of the recruit and and a similar prestige with the sim, how much should I expect to spend? 

Thanks!

There is no one standard answer to that question. The big question is whether it is a high priority recruit for the sim or not, and also how many open schollies the sim has.

I agree with daalter that there hasn't been a definitive answer in several years. 

If it's D1, it could take more than $40k, or it could take less than $10k.  Depending on what priority the recruit is for the sim.  And this amount certainly changes based on prestige.

I also believe sims continue to spend all their recruiting resources in the first cycle.  The secondary wave of sim recruits occurs when the recruits lower their requirements to consider a team, not the sims doing another round of spending.   Those guys generally can be bumped off for a couple grand.