Wall Street Journal Names BYU Football Top 35 'Most Valuable' Program
The Wall Street Journal and Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Colombus, performed valuations of all FBS programs across the country. The premise of the analysis was this: if these programs could be sold like professional franchises, how much would they be worth?
The analysis included a look back at years worth of data including top-line revenues, cash flow growth and projections, and sustainability. While football was the emphasis, it was really a comparison of athletic departments as a whole.
Ohio State topped the list with a valuation of $1.957 billion, just ahead of Texas who had a valuation of $1.897 billion. According to this analysis, and to the surprise of nobody that follows the sport closely, the value of college football programs is very top heavy. The Ohio State football program is worth more than double Oklahoma which ranks 10th on the WSJ list.
BYU came in at no. 35 nationally with a valuation of $366 million. That ranked 6th in the Big 12 behind Kansas (17), Utah (28), Kansas State (29), Texas Tech (32), and Colorado (34).
When evaluating BYU, context is very important. The Cougars ranked 35th nationally despite being independent for the last decade, and BYU is in the final year of receiving a partial revenue share from the Big 12. For comparison, BYU ranked well ahead of the other three programs than joined the Big 12 at the same time: UCF (64), Cincinnati (68), and Houston (70).
Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that BYU will climb these rankings over the next ten years. Once BYU is enjoying the full revenue benefits of a Power Four league, the valuation will increase. In other words, if BYU were a stock, now would be a good time to buy.
Here is the complete ranking of the top 100 FBS programs. Big 12 teams and teams from Utah are in bold font.
- Ohio State – $1.957 billion
- Texas – $1.897 billion
- Michigan – $1.655 billion
- Georgia – $1.348 billion
- Notre Dame – $1.293 billion
- LSU – $1.060 billion
- Penn State – $1.027 billion
- Tennessee – $1.017 billion
- Texas A&M – $1.001 billion
- Oklahoma – $881 million
- Alabama – $846 million
- Auburn – $843 million
- Nebraska – $838 million
- Florida – $793 million
- Wisconsin – $734 million
- Washington – $662 million
- Kansas – $649 million
- Iowa – $640 million
- Arkansas – $616 million
- Oregon – $608 million
- Minnesota – $550 million
- Virginia Tech – $476 million
- Illinois – $453 million
- USC – $452 million
- Florida State – $446 million
- Maryland – $445 million
- Clemson – $439 million
- Utah – $425 million
- Kansas State – $420 million
- Ole Miss – $411 million
- Michigan State – $411 million
- Texas Tech – $389 million
- Indiana – $386 million
- Colorado – $378 million
- BYU – $366 million
- TCU – $348 million
- Northwestern – $341 milliion
- NC State – $336 million
- North Carolina – $327 million
- Miami – $326 million
- Iowa State – $324 million
- Oklahoma State – $324 million
- Georgia Tech – $317 million
- South Carolina – $312 million
- Arizona – $299 million
- Louisville – $286 million
- Purdue – $279 million
- Duke – $258 million
- Syracuse – $255 million
- Cal – $247 million
- Pitt – $237 million
- Washington State – $231 million
- Virginia – $218 million
- Boston College – $216 million
- UCLA – $212 million
- Stanford – $211 million
- Kentucky – $202 million
- Mississippi State – $197 million
- Rutgers – $190 million
- Baylor – $183 million
- Oregon State – $180 million
- Arizona State – $176 million
- Missouri – $168 million
- UCF – $132
- Wake Forest – $118 million
- Vanderbilt – $112 million
- SMU – $107 million
- Cincinnati – $92 million
- Boise State – $91 million
- Houston – $90 million
- SDSU – $90 million
- Colorado State – $74 million
- Wyoming – $71 million
- USF – $62 million
- UTSA – $62 million
- Fresno State – $62 million
- Temple – $59 million
- Liberty – $56 million
- East Carolina – $51 million
- UNLV – $50 million
- Memphis – $48 million
- West Virginia – $48 million
- North Texas – $45 million
- Utah State – $42 million
- UConn- $41 million
- FIU – $40 million
- Rice – $38 million
- Texas State – $37 million
- Nevada – $37 million
- JMU – $36 million
- Marshall – $35 million
- Tulsa – $34 million
- Louisiana-Lafayette – $33 million
- Old Dominion – $33 million
- App State – $33 million
- FAU – $33 million
- New Mexico State – $33 million
- Coastal Carolina – $32 million
- Georgia State – $32 million
- New Mexico – $29 million