Gophers valued among top 30 programs in college football

If you wanted to hypothetically purchase Minnesota Golden Gophers football, it would be worth more than $500 million according to a study.

College sports are driven by money now more than ever, and The Athletic published a story on Monday ranking every power conference college football team by how much they’d sell for. The Gophers were the 28th-most valuable team at $562 million.

Related: Gophers picked to finish 11th in Big Ten preseason media poll

According to the article, the rankings were based on things like “prestige and championships to facility renovations, population trends and realignment scenarios.”

Minnesota has an average football revenue of $80.2 million according to the article, which is the 21st-most in the country. It’s an interesting note, as the University of Minnesota’s athletics budget faces a $8.75 million deficit. The deficit is reportedly driven largely by the new House v. NCAA settlement, which results in new payments from the school to student athletes.

The Gophers’ spot at No. 28 puts them as the 11th-ranked Big Ten program on the list. Their valuation is much closer to the second tier of the conference with Nebraska, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State than the third tier of Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana and UCLA.

The Athletic’s Matt Baker emphasizes that the article is closer to a fun exercise than official valuations, but it’s an interesting note as the landscape of college sports and college football seem to change overnight.

Gophers football has a rich history. Its place in the Big Ten and a major market in the Twin Cities. This list shows that it’s entirely realistic to expect Minnesota to be a competitive program in big time college football. No matter what the sport looks like over the next decade, the Gophers are not going any where.