For years the Texas Longhorns were the most valuable college football team in the land. But after a coaching change and another year struggling, they have fallen down the list. Ohio State is now in the top spot, followed by Michigan and then Texas. Pretty crazy to see how quickly things can fall apart with a few bad seasons and a coaching change.
The Wall Street Journal has more:
The Ohio State program is worth more than $1.1 billion, the largest figure in the nation, according to an annual study. The Buckeyes have dethroned Texas, which had held the top spot for three straight years in the annual valuation by Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus.
The Longhorns, who still led all programs in estimated revenues, are worth $972.1 million, up from $875 million a year ago. But that was only good for No. 3. Michigan finished second at $999.1 million. Ohio State and Michigan both benefited from much-improved cash flows over the past year.
To compile the numbers, Brewer analyzed 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 on the open market like professional teams.The valuations among the elite programs across the board shot up this year. There are eight teams worth more than $700 million, compared with two last year (Texas and Notre Dame). There were no teams worth more than $900 million last year; now there are four.
