College Football Teams Are Now Worth Billions—and Their Values Are Skyrocketing
An annual analysis of programs found that valuations went up 46% over last year, as talent moves freely around the country and levels the playing field.
On Monday night, either Indiana or Miami will grab hold of college football’s ultimate bragging rights and call themselves national champions. But no matter what happens in the title game, there’s one distinction that neither one will be able to claim: being the most valuable team in college football.
That title belongs to Texas.
Despite a disappointing season that began with a No. 1 ranking and finished without a playoff berth, the Longhorns lead the country with a $2.2 billion valuation, according to an annual analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. Brewer’s study examines industry trends, cash flows, revenue and broader economic shifts to calculate what every team would be worth if it could be bought and sold on the open market—just like a professional sports franchise.
These days, that’s closer to reality than ever. Schools can pay players while athletic departments are cutting deals with private-equity firms. And while some feared that this new landscape would damage the sport, Brewer actually found the opposite. Interest in college football is soaring—and so are the valuations.
Across the FBS level, Brewer found that they were up 46% compared to last year.
“There’s more value in college football than there’s ever been,” Brewer says. “Even though they’re paying players and it’s more expensive, it’s also worth more.”
Brewer points to Indiana as proof. The Hoosiers are showing how nontraditional powers can emerge as huge attractions in this era. So while Indiana only ranks 28th on Brewer’s list at $648 million, it remains a 67.9% increase over last year. At $806 million, Miami placed 21st.
And even though the new revenue-sharing may level the playing field, it doesn’t mean that everyone is on equal ground. Texas became the first team to cross $2 billion in the analysis, overtaking Ohio State ($1.5 billion) for the top spot.
Overall, Brewer says that one reason valuations have surged is that the deeper pool of potential champions—created by the loosening of rules around player movement and compensation—has brought college football’s competitive landscape closer to the richest league around.
In the NFL, it isn’t uncommon for the fortunes of crummy teams to turn on a dime. Take the New England Patriots, who went from winning four games last season to 14 victories this year. But at the college level, the powerhouses typically remained the powerhouses while schools like Indiana were their doormats.
But with increased parity, Brewer believes that the sport is attracting new fans from programs that wouldn’t typically be thought of as football schools. That, in turn, boosts revenues and television ratings.
Right now, the surprise team happens to be Indiana. What the Hoosiers have also shown, however, is that it could be practically anyone next year.
“It’s interesting,” Brewer says, “because different teams could ostensibly enter into that conversation in the future.”