Despite a month and a half of humbling embarrassments, Michigan football remains a valuable brand...at least in terms of dollars and cents.
The Wolverines ranked fourth in a recent academic survey calculating the financial worth of college football programs, based, “on what a college team would be worth on the open market if it could be bought and sold like a professional sports franchise.”
The 20 most valuable college football trams per @wsj pic.twitter.com/1Gc7ZX2wol
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 8, 2019
Revenue, expenses along with cash-flow adjustments, risk assessments and growth projections were considering, according Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at IUPUC who led the study.
Three teams — Texas, Ohio State and Alabama — had estimated values over a billion dollars. Michigan just barely edged out fellow national brand Notre Dame.
Michigan State cracked the top-20 with a total worth of $354.2 million.
Interestingly, Clemson seized the national championship this year despite not figuring into the top-25. The Tigers are valued at less than $300 million, good for No. 26 in the country.
Meanwhile, Jim Harbaugh’s program is a high-earner, as Forbes reported approximately $52 million of profit as of Sep. 2018. This ranked third in the nation behind Texas A&M and Texas.
Wall Street Journal Evaluations
1. Texas: $1,105,493,378
2. Ohio State: $1,048,166,317
3. Alabama: $1,009,903,620
4. Michigan: $924,625,003
5. Notre Dame: $913,401,562
6. Georgia: $891,099,506
7. Oklahoma: $885,558,053
8. Auburn: $871,907,615
9. LSU: $852,445,897
10. Tennessee: $727,849,384