WSJ Article: How Much Is Your College Team Worth?
Article is paywalled, but here's a snippet...
Ohio State is the most valuable program in college football. The Buckeyes would be worth $1.96 billion if the team could be sold on the open market, according to an analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. That puts Ohio State just ahead of Texas ($1.9 billion) and rival Michigan ($1.66 billion), with six other programs—Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M—topping the billion dollar mark.
Brewer conducts his study by analyzing a program’s finances and asking: What would it be worth if it could be bought and sold like a professional franchise?
Brewer looks at top-line revenues, growth and drivers of cash flow and makes projections about the sustainability of the operation, just as he would with any other business. It isn’t a mere one-year snapshot, either—he combed through years of data for 131 major college football programs, from the heavyweights all the way down to Louisiana-Monroe. Then, after breaking down everything from television viewership to trends in enrollment, his spreadsheet finally spits out an answer.
UCF ranked #64 (of 131) overall and #13 (of 16) in the Big 12 with a valuation of $132M.
Not surprisingly, the SEC and Big 10 combined for 18 of the top 20 valuations. Notre Dame and Kansas were the only others to crack the top 20.
Article is paywalled, but here's a snippet...
Ohio State is the most valuable program in college football. The Buckeyes would be worth $1.96 billion if the team could be sold on the open market, according to an analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. That puts Ohio State just ahead of Texas ($1.9 billion) and rival Michigan ($1.66 billion), with six other programs—Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M—topping the billion dollar mark.
Brewer conducts his study by analyzing a program’s finances and asking: What would it be worth if it could be bought and sold like a professional franchise?
Brewer looks at top-line revenues, growth and drivers of cash flow and makes projections about the sustainability of the operation, just as he would with any other business. It isn’t a mere one-year snapshot, either—he combed through years of data for 131 major college football programs, from the heavyweights all the way down to Louisiana-Monroe. Then, after breaking down everything from television viewership to trends in enrollment, his spreadsheet finally spits out an answer.
UCF ranked #64 (of 131) overall and #13 (of 16) in the Big 12 with a valuation of $132M.
Not surprisingly, the SEC and Big 10 combined for 18 of the top 20 valuations. Notre Dame and Kansas were the only others to crack the top 20.
