How Much Is Your College Football Team Worth?

Dillon Cheverere12 years ago

This is different from the list Forbes recently published that detailed 2012’s most valuable college football programs. The Wall Street Journal published the intrinsic valuations of 115 FBS teams.

Simply put, if your college football program was for sale, what would the price tag be?

From The Wall Street Journal:

According to an annual analysis of the values of college-football programs, Texas remains the most valuable team in the sport. But the gap is narrowing: The Longhorns—whose 2011-12 valuation is $761.7 million—now are only slightly ahead of Michigan ($731.9 million).

Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, calculated the intrinsic valuations for 115 of the teams in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision. Among other factors, the study looked at each program’s revenues and expenses and made cash-flow adjustments, risk assessments and growth projections for each school. The resulting figures represent what the teams might fetch if they could be bought and sold like pro franchises. (As a point of reference, the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars sold in late 2011 for about $760 million.)

Texas still generates the most revenue in college football, but Michigan’s valuation surged 18% over the year before because of improved cash flow, Brewer said. Texas’ valuation fell by 5%. As for Monday night’s title-game combatants: Notre Dame ranked fourth in the financial study ($597.4 million); Alabama was eighth ($476.0 million).

Here’s a link for the full list.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Image via TexasSports