theathleticuk
Buying a college football team seems less far-fetched now than when The Athletic made its first attempt at putting a price tag on every Power 4 program last year.
Thank the separate private equity/capital deals finalized by Utah and the Big 12 for that.
But neither agreement has revealed enough data to answer our lingering, still-hypothetical question: How much would it take to buy an NCAA football team on the open market? To try to come up with an answer for every team in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12, plus Notre Dame, we resurfaced our approach from last year with fresh numbers and updated insight.
Advertisement Our broad approach did not change: We used actual transactions in professional leagues to compare a teams sale price with its average revenue.
We treated the SEC and Big Ten like NFL and NBA franchises (which have higher ratios of revenue to sales price).
The ACC and Big 12 were more like MLB and NHL clubs (which have lower ratios).
In addition to using financial numbers reported by the schools themselves, we also considered factors such as brand power, demographics and conference realignment to settle on our valuation.
The full methodology is at the bottom.
Three more quick caveats: - Different schools break down revenues in different ways, which complicates our keep-it-simple philosophy.
- Were exploring theoretical sales prices, which are not the same as what teams are actually worth.
- Our numbers are admittedly imperfect, but thats no different from the rest of the business world.
Most valuations we saw had the Seattle Seahawks pegged around $7 billion last year.
The real price when sold earlier this month: $9.6 billion.
1.
Texas: $2.46 billion Last year: No.
1, $2.38 billion The Longhorns, somewhat surprisingly, didnt report the most football revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year (well come back to that a couple spots later).
But Texas three-year average ($190 million) is No.
1 in the country and enough to stay No.
1 on our list.
Our valuation puts Texas on par with the 2020 sale of the New York Mets ($2.4 billion, not adjusted for inflation).
The Longhorns have elite resources, an ideal location and a spot in a premier conference.
The only thing missing is a recent national championship, although Arch Mannings team should be in the conversation this year.
Then again, we thought the same thing last season ..
2.
Ohio State: $2.3 billion Last year: No.
3, $1.9 billion Revenue alone would put the Buckeyes seventh or eighth, but their average figures are weighed down by a 2023 season that featured only six home games.
We put more stock in the fact that Ohio States football revenue jumped almost $50 million during the 2024 national-title run and the fact that the program is recession-proof (still only two losing seasons since 1967).
The Buckeyes power isnt tied to one coach or one era, which makes them a safer investment than some other programs in this tier.
It also helps explain why Ohio States figure grew the most of any other team.
Advertisement 3.
Notre Dame: $2.1 billion Last year: No.
4, $1.85 billion In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Notre Dame reported more football revenue (almost $196 million) to the U.S.
Department of Education than anyone else.
Its recent average, however, still trailed Texas by $27 million, and the Irish have shown more volatility as a program than Ohio State.
Our number puts Notre Dame football on par with the valuation of the average NHL team (according to Sportico).