Which College Football Programs Are The Most Valuable?
After years of college football mostly operating in secrecy, 2024 was the year that most fans finally realized that college football is big business. Millions, billions of dollars are floating around the sport, as they have for years, with some of that money now making its way to players.
One of the results of that shift in model now means college football programs are looking for outside investors to help shore up funds to fill out their rosters. And what do outside investors want to know? The exact value of what they're investing in.
To that end, CNBC and Athletic Director U, a training program for future AD's, came up with a new list of the most valuable programs. With some surprising, and unsurprising, results.
Per their research, the top 10 most valuable programs are as follows:
- Ohio State - $1.318 billion
- Texas - $1.281 billion
- Texas A&M - $1.264 billion
- Michigan - $1.062 billion
- Alabama - $978 million
- Notre Dame - $969 million
- Georgia - $950 million
- Nebraska - $943 million
- Tennessee - $940 million
- Oklahoma - $928 million
DALLAS - Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns speaks during SEC Football Media Days at Omni Dallas Hotel on July 17, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Nebraska, Texas A&M Surprising Additions For Most Valuable Programs
For the most part, this is about as expected. Ohio State and Texas are two of the biggest names in college football, with recent success and 2024 playoff appearances to point to. Alabama and Georgia have been two of the most successful programs of the last decade, with multiple championships for each. Notre Dame, despite having little in the way of major bowl wins, is a historic program with a large, devoted fan base, primarily of people who attended other schools but have Irish heritage, but that's another issue.
But Nebraska and Texas A&M are two schools with little to no recent success. What are they doing here, while schools like Clemson or USC miss out?
Clearly, it helps to have a dedicated donor and fan base with few other distractions.
Nebraska football is the only game in town. They were an elite program in the 1990's. And they're still hanging on to the fruits of that success. Texas A&M has one of college athletics' most devoted fanbases, with a ferocious, sometimes bewildering level of support despite huge swings and misses with recent coaching hires. But they're always near the top of the recruiting rankings thanks to huge NIL support, demonstrating the exact mindset that leads to sold out games and high valuations.
In a sport where television rights are conference wide, individual attendance and fan interest matter a lot. USC might be in Los Angeles, but with so much other competition in the region, extremely high ticket prices and inconsistency since the Pete Carroll era, they're being out earned by Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Things can change quickly in college sports though; Alabama finished the season unranked in the AP Poll seven times in 10 years, pre-Nick Saban. Start winning, and the dollars start flowing. Unless you're Nebraska and Texas A&M.