The Athletic ranked the Top 25 most valuable college football programs heading into the 2025 season. For context, the outlet looked at hypothetical scenarios where private equity firms could get involved and start buying college football programs like you would in professional sports organizations.
The Athletic used a methodology that contained real life pro transactions over the last three years, leading to NFL and NBA sales to ratios for SEC and Big Ten schools. MLB and NHL values were the rough benchmarks for the ACC and BIg 12. All Power Four schools, and Notre Dame, The Athletic favored in prestige, championships, facilities, population, realignment scenarios in these values.
Not to mention, the values are what each individual team would sell for, not necessarily their exact value. So without further ado, let’s dive into what The Athletic sees for the top 25 most valuable college football programs.
1. Texas: $2.38 billion
Texas is the most valuable college football program in the country, per The Athletic’s metrics. The Longhorns are also the only program valued above $2 billion on this list.
Leading in revenue year to year certainly helps. They are in a hot bed of high school football recruiting, the logo is one of the most recognizable brands in sports and now they have the SEC branding.
2. Georgia: $1.92 billion
The Athletic valued Georgia as the second most valuable college football team in the country. The recent success gave them a huge bump.
They also referenced the Bulldogs’ success going hand in hand with Georgia’s population doubling since 1980. This is more of a long term play, per the listing.
The Athletic called Ohio State, practically, recession proof these days. The Buckeyes just won the national title and have more home games compared to just six in 2023, giving them more revenue.
It seemed like they’d be outside the top five most valuable college football programs, but they were bumped up to the top three.
One of the most recognizable brands in sports, Notre Dame’s fandom spreads far and wide across the country. The Athletic still has the Fighting Irish in the top five despite its average football revenue not reflecting any jump in TV revenue.
Overall, Notre Dame’s value as a college football program is on par with most Big Ten and SEC programs. Another College Football Playoff run like last year might justify this value even more.
5. Michigan: $1.83 billion
You can’t say the brand of Notre Dame or Ohio State without Michigan right? The Athletic ranked the Wolverines at the tail end of the top five, to nearly no one’s surprise.
According to the report, Michigan boasts the largest stadium and the largest fan base across the country. As far as college football programs go, the Wolverines are behind Ohio State due to consistency on the field over the course of the last decade plus, as well as the population of the state, but the on-field results recently gave them a huge boost.
6. Alabama: $1.74 billion
The Athletic used revenue multipliers and the Crimson Tide were the final team to earn the top one, which happened to be 13 times their reported revenue. Nick Saban established quite the pedigree and tradition that was ushered into the modern era.
Using history as well, Alabama’s been one of those college football programs that’s been around and always well known due to excellence and championship success. For comparison, per the report, Alabama would be on par with the Tampa Bay Rays in terms of a valued sale.
7. Oklahoma: $1.49 billion
Oklahoma is interesting when it comes to college football programs, considering the consistency is on par with Ohio State. As The Athletic clarifies, most of their dominance came in the Big 8/12, and not the early goings of the SEC.
Despite a good amount of revenue coming on par with other programs, the Sooners could get lost in the shuffle among other programs coming up the rear. Maybe 2024 was a blip on the radar or the start of a downward trend.
8. USC: $1.40 billion
The Athletic used a bit of a caveat here, saying the Trojans are basically trading in Pac-12 payouts for the Big Ten revenue share. That’s a big difference to add onto their brand, despite average to above-average success since their dominance in the mid 2000s.
The brand power is strong, as is the LA market and population. Ultimately, the outlet put this college football program in the Alabama, Oklahoma territory in terms of history compared to others.
According to The Athletic, Texas, Notre Dame and Michigan were the only college football programs to report more football revenue than Tennessee during the last fiscal year. That might be enough to be in the top 10 right there.
The recent history is certainly interesting, considering the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting violations era, the Greg Schiano fiasco but more stabilization under Josh Heupel. Time will tell if the value increases in the next, let’s say, five years.
10. LSU: $1.23 billion
To round out the top 10, LSU makes the list from The Athletic. Other than Notre Dame, LSU is just the latest SEC or Big Ten program at the top of the rankings.
It seems like LSU would be below the Texas through Alabama college football program tier, but above Tennessee and Oklahoma. However, their average football revenue of $102.9 million was 13th nationwide. Thus, it balances out to a No. 10 ranking.
11. Penn State: $1.20 billion
12. Florida: $1.08 billion
13. Auburn: $1.06 billion
14. Oregon: $990 million
15. Texas A&M: $973 million
16. Washington: $970 million
17. Nebraska: $930 million
18. Florida State: $867 million
19. Wisconsin: $801 million
20. Iowa: $709 million
21. Michigan State: $708 million
22. Clemson: $665 million
23. Arkansas: $646 million
24. Miami: $604 million
25. Ole Miss: $591 million
