Wall Street Journal report names ‘most valuable’ college football programs following 2024 season

Wall Street Journal reports are usually reserved for the business world, but Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus, has released an analysis of the most valuable college football programs following the 2024 season.

Here’s an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal’s story, which explains the methodology behind the ranking:

Brewer conducts his study by analyzing a program’s finances and asking: What would it be worth if it could be bought and sold like a professional franchise?

Brewer looks at top-line revenues, growth and drivers of cash flow and makes projections about the sustainability of the operation, just as he would with any other business. It isn’t a mere one-year snapshot, either—he combed through years of data for 131 major college football programs, from the heavyweights all the way down to Louisiana-Monroe. Then, after breaking down everything from television viewership to trends in enrollment, his spreadsheet finally spits out an answer.

When Brewer crunched all the numbers, to nobody’s surprise, Ohio State was the most valuable program in college football. The Buckeyes would be worth $1.96 billion if the team could be sold on the open market. Coming in close behind was Texas at $1.9 billion and Michigan, the 2023 national champion, at $1.66 billion.

Georgia, Notre Dame — which got to the national title game this season before losing to Ohio State — LSU, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M topped the billion-dollar mark in Brewer’s study, which wasn’t just a 1-year snapshot. Brewer went through years of data for the 131 major college football programs, from the top teams like Ohio State all the way down to, say, Louisiana-Monroe.

Brewer broke down everything from TV viewership to the trends at that school in enrollment. From all that, Brewer got his final answers. Here’s a look at where some notable programs sit in the rankings:

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.