But how much does a college sports program cost?
That’s a question CNBC answered after talking to people in the private equity world. Want to invest. In college sports
Below, CNBC ranks the 75 most valuable college athletic programs. The rankings do not include military academies and are limited to schools that participate in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, which attracts top players.
Ohio State University is the most valuable athletic program, worth an estimated $1.32 billion. The Buckeyes had $280 million in revenue in 2023, the most of any school. Other factors that helped propel the Buckeyes to the top of the rankings are the alumni base. 600,000A fan base of more than 11 million, boosters who donated nearly $60 million last year, and a football team that routinely Attendance Over 100,000 in its games.
It’s not surprising that the list is dominated by top SEC and Big Ten schools — due to each conference’s massive media rights deals.
Overall, the SEC is worth about $13.3 billion, an average of about $832 million per school; The Big Ten is followed by about $13.2 billion, an average of about $734 million per school. ACC about $10 billion, or about $558 million per school; and the Big 12, about $6.7 billion, or about $420 million per school.
Information used to compile prices is courtesy of Jason Belzer, publisher of Athletic Director Uwhich has advised universities on name, image and likeness deals and is now doing the same for athletic departments seeking private equity. AthleticDirectorU has an extensive database of college athletic program finances and information.
Income figures are from the Department of Education. Equity in Athletics Data Analysis And Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics For FY 2023. The list reflects the current enterprise value of each program, starting with a base revenue multiple of four for all institutions, and then adjusting the multiple for variables, including conference affiliation, estimated NIL spending, school subsidies , number of alumni and other factors that can drive future revenue growth and profitability.
CNBC and Belzer also enlisted the expertise of several people with knowledge of athletic program pricing, who requested anonymity to discuss specifics of the programs, to determine the rankings.
College Athletics Valuation 2024
| Rank | Program | value | Income | Conference | The city | Public/Private |
| 1. | The Ohio State University | $1.32B | $280M | Big Ten | Columbus, OH | public |
| 2. | University of Texas at Austin | $1.28B | $271M | SEC | Austin, TX | public |
| 3. | Texas A&M University | $1.26B | $279M | SEC | College Station, TX | public |
| 4. | University of Michigan | $1.06B | $230M | Big Ten | Ann Arbor, MI | public |
| 5. | University of Alabama | $978M | $200M | SEC | Tuscaloosa, AL | public |
| 6. | University of Notre Dame | $969M | $224M | Acc | Notre Dame, IN | private |
| 7. | University of Georgia | $950M | $210M | SEC | Athens, GA | public |
| 8. | University of Nebraska | $943M | $205M | Big Ten | Lincoln, NE | public |
| 9. | University of Tennessee | $940M | $202M | SEC | Knoxville, TN | public |
| 10. | University of Oklahoma | $928M | $199M | SEC | NORMAN, OK | public |
| 11. | Penn State University | $924M | $202M | Big Ten | University Park, PA | public |
| 12. | University of Southern California | $923M | $212M | Big Ten | Los Angeles, CA | private |
| 13. | Louisiana State University | $916M | $200M | SEC | Baton Rouge, LA | public |
| 14. | University of Florida | $865M | $189M | SEC | Gainesville, FL | public |
| 15. | University of Wisconsin | $838M | $198M | Big Ten | Madison, WI | public |
| 16. | Clemson University | $800M | $196M | Acc | Clemson, SC | public |
| 17. | University of Oregon | $780M | $151M | Big Ten | Eugene, OR | public |
| 18. | University of Arkansas | $776M | $167M | SEC | Fayetteville, AR | public |
| 19. | University of Kentucky | $775M | $174M | SEC | Lexington, KY | public |
| 20. | Auburn University | $772M | $195M | SEC | Auburn, AL | public |
| 21. | University of Iowa | $747M | $167M | Big Ten | Iowa City, IA | public |
| 22. | Michigan State University | $740M | $171M | Big Ten | East Lansing, MI | public |
| 23. | Stanford University | $687M | $180M | Acc | Stanford, CA | private |
| 24. | Florida State University | $673M | $170M | Acc | Tallahassee, FL | public |
| 25. | University of Illinois | $665M | $148M | Big Ten | Champaign, IL | public |
| 26. | Duke University | $659M | $153M | Acc | Durham, NC | private |
| 27. | University of Washington | $658M | $152M | Big Ten | Seattle, WA | public |
| 28. | Indiana University | $653M | $145M | Big Ten | Indianapolis, IN | public |
| 29. | University of Mississippi | $651M | $142M | SEC | Oxford, MS | public |
| 30. | University of South Carolina | $650M | $160M | SEC | Columbia, SC | public |
| 31. | University of Miami | $639M | $160M | Acc | Coral Gables, FL | private |
| 32. | University of Minnesota | $637M | $149M | Big Ten | Minneapolis, MN | public |
| 33. | Texas Tech University | $619M | $147M | Big 12 | Lubbock, TX | public |
| 34. | University of Louisville | $595M | $143M | Acc | Louisville, KY | public |
| 35. | University of Missouri | $590M | $142M | SEC | Columbia, MO | public |
| 36. | Purdue University | $567M | $124M | Big Ten | West Lafayette, IN | public |
| 37. | University of Kansas | $553M | $128M | Big 12 | Lawrence, KS | public |
| 38. | Vanderbilt University | $551M | $125M | SEC | Nashville, TN | private |
| 39. | Texas Christian University | $542M | $149M | Big 12 | Fort Worth, TX | private |
| 40. | UNC-Chapel Hill | $539M | $139M | Acc | Chapel Hill, NC | public |
| 41. | University of Arizona | $532M | $143M | Big 12 | Tucson, AZ | public |
| 42. | University of Pittsburgh | $524M | $137M | Acc | Pittsburgh, PA | public |
| 43. | Mississippi State University | $523M | $116M | SEC | Starkville, MS | public |
| 44. | Baylor University | $513M | $137M | Big 12 | Waco, TX | private |
| 45. | University of Virginia | $506M | $141M | Acc | Charlottesville, VA | public |
| 46. | Oklahoma State University | $500M | $122M | Big 12 | Stillwater, right. | public |
| 47. | Georgia Tech | $498M | $134M | Acc | Atlanta, GA | public |
| 48. | Iowa State University | $492M | $116M | Big 12 | Ames, IA | public |
| 49. | Syracuse University | $487M | $114M | Acc | Syracuse, NY | private |
| 50. | Northwestern University | $486M | $118M | Big Ten | Evanston, IL | private |
| 51. | North Carolina State University | $481M | $121M | Acc | Raleigh, NC | public |
| 52. | University of Maryland | $477M | $121M | Big Ten | College Park, MD | public |
| 53. | Virginia Tech | $474M | $130M | Acc | Blacksburg, VA | public |
| 54. | University of California, Los Angeles | $472M | $105M | Big Ten | Los Angeles, CA | public |
| 55. | University of Colorado | $470M | $127M | Big 12 | Boulder, CO | public |
| 56. | University of Utah | $468M | $126M | Big 12 | Salt Lake City, UT | public |
| 57. | Kansas State University | $444M | $102M | Big 12 | Manhattan, KS | public |
| 58. | Boston College | $443M | $118M | Acc | Chestnut Hill, MA | private |
| 59. | Rutgers University | $417M | $125M | Big Ten | New Brunswick, NJ | public |
| 60. | West Virginia University | $403M | $106M | Big 12 | Morgantown, WV | public |
| 61. | Washington State University | $392M | $79M | PAC 12 | Pullman, WA | public |
| 62. | University of California, Berkeley | $386M | $126M | Acc | Berkeley, CA | public |
| 63. | Wake Forest University | $362M | $97M | Acc | Winston-Salem, NC | private |
| 64. | Brigham Young University | $357M | $106M | Big 12 | Provo, UT | private |
| 65. | Southern Methodist University | $327M | $86M | Acc | Dallas, TX | private |
| 66. | Oregon State University | $326M | $92M | PAC 12 | Corvallis, OR | public |
| 67. | San Diego State University | $287M | $104M | MWC | San Diego, CA | public |
| 68. | Arizona State University | $279M | $115M | Big 12 | Tempe, AZ | public |
| 69. | University of Cincinnati | $216M | $87M | Big 12 | Cincinnati, OH | public |
| 70. | University of Central Florida | $181M | $85M | Big 12 | Orlando, FL | public |
| 71. | University of Connecticut | $178M | $93M | Big East | Storrs, CT | public |
| 72. | Boise State University | $176M | $61M | MWC | Boise, ID | public |
| 73. | East Carolina University | $153M | $63M | AAC | Greenville, NC | public |
| 74. | University of South Florida | $150M | $71M | AAC | Tampa, FL | public |
| 75. | University of Memphis | $148M | $64M | AAC | Memphis, TN | public |
Correction: This story has been updated to correct North Carolina State University, valued at $481 million, and Ohio State University, valued at $1.32 billion. It also corrects the ranking of the 16 schools on CNBC’s list and corrects that Brigham Young University is a private university. This story has also been updated to correct the overall valuation data for the ACC Conference, which is worth about $10 billion, or about $558 million per school.