I’ll take the Vols for a $1 billion

[VAVol85]

I found this article in the WSJ interesting:

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/college-football-ohio-state-revenue-value-5510e348?st=3rMGvy&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Probably behind a paywall, so I will copy the relevant paragraph here:

The Buckeyes would be worth $1.96 billion if the team could be sold on the open market, according to an analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. That puts Ohio State just ahead of Texas ($1.9 billion) and rival Michigan ($1.66 billion), with six other programs—Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M—topping the billion dollar mark.

The analysis is said to be similar to the approach used for valuing NFL franchises and represents several years of data.

Vol fans often assert that we are among the elite programs but it is nice to see financial data that supports our unbiased opinion!

 

[SpookyAction]

Bama and Florida are not in the billion dollar category.

 

[SpookyAction]

The sentence about private equity circling athletic departments is chilling.
If they buy in, it is probably to pump and dump.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

The sentence about private equity circling athletic departments is chilling.
If they buy in, it is probably to pump and dump.

They're not buying into college football as is owning a program. Can a private equity firm create $$$$ for NIL payouts? Damn right

 

[89 VOLS grad]

Bama and Florida are not in the billion dollar category.

Well, They are the two teams laughing all the way to the bank when it comes to the success of their athletic departments considering their supposed wealth! As a fan, I would much rather be on the winning games side vs the money side as far as their success in all sports besides the TN baseball team during the Vitello years!

 

[TNBV]

They're not buying into college football as is owning a program. Can a private equity firm create $$$$ for NIL payouts? Damn right

But why? Private equity only function to make a profit. Where is the profit in paying college athletes to play if you have no stake in the university or brand?

 

[stolitonic]

Gotta admit, I honestly thought it would be higher.

With the exception of a few NFL teams (Cowboys, Packers, etc)-the fanship of most major universities probably exceeds that of NFL teams.

I wonder if the analysis had the stadiums being retained by the schools where applicable? Neyland, the Big House, the Show, etc are all probably worth a pretty penny themselves in terms of revenue generation.

 

[NATHAN05]

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

But why? Private equity only function to make a profit. Where is the profit in paying college athletes to play if you have no stake in the university or brand?

They certainly would have a stake in helping a player push his "brand"

 

[Pride85]

This is such a sad state of affairs.

 

[Voltopia]

Gotta admit, I honestly thought it would be higher.

Professional sports franchises are driven purely - purely - by the profit motive. And they are parket of a world-spanning organism in the NFL and the other franchises which are all built to do the same, and who have none of the responsibiilities or hangups that a public university would possess. College atheltics has never been purely nor solely about profit, as much as that vexes those who rah-rah the "free market capitalism" mindset of this new anything-goes college sports landscape. They'll never be able to compete 1:1 with the NFL as long as that's true. Although, that said, they're certainly working to come down to the NFL's level, so ...

 

[UT97Vol]

Gotta admit, I honestly thought it would be higher.

With the exception of a few NFL teams (Cowboys, Packers, etc)-the fanship of most major universities probably exceeds that of NFL teams.

I wonder if the analysis had the stadiums being retained by the schools where applicable? Neyland, the Big House, the Show, etc are all probably worth a pretty penny themselves in terms of revenue generation.

That man not be the case. I would argue NFL far exceeds college football fandom. Regular season NFL games easily outdraw college conference championship games and even playoff games for eyeballs.

For example, the recent Lions/Redskins (sorry its Redskins) drew almost 34 million viewers.

The first round of the playoff averaged 10M viewers. Second round 19M. The national title game drew only 22M by comparison.

 

[ArmchairQB]

Some university is going to be the first one to decide that it doesn't need to have an athletic department that's going to be part of the university, at least on an org chart. Instead they'll have a public-private partnership providing the service of managing athletic programs on behalf of the university and making those programs available solely to currently-enrolled students of the university. And that'll still be better than private equity firms, because you can theoretically still set it up as a non-profit.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Five of the top ten are in the SEC and three are in the Big Ten or whatever they are now called. Notre Dame's football is not in a conference and does not share any of their football revenue with anyone. They should be worth more than any other team.

 

[terrypedigo]

Bama and Florida are not in the billion dollar category.

We kicked there AZZ.

 

[HeavenUniversity]

Gotta admit, I honestly thought it would be higher.

With the exception of a few NFL teams (Cowboys, Packers, etc)-the fanship of most major universities probably exceeds that of NFL teams.

I wonder if the analysis had the stadiums being retained by the schools where applicable? Neyland, the Big House, the Show, etc are all probably worth a pretty penny themselves in terms of revenue generation.

Just judging from watching games on TV, few NFL teams can match the enthusiasm you hear from college games. Crowds at Packers, Chiefs, Bills, Seahawks games seem to be really into it. Most of the teams seem to have rather blah crowd intensity. For a state like Florida that is so into football, the three teams don’t seem to have fans that are that into it. Despite a huge stadium and being the most marketed NFL team, the Cowboys sound like their games are a snore fest on TV. Just my two cents.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Just judging from watching games on TV, few NFL teams can match the enthusiasm you hear from college games. Crowds at Packers, Chiefs, Bills, Seahawks games seem to be really into it. Most of the teams seem to have rather blah crowd intensity. For a state like Florida that is so into football, the three teams don’t seem to have fans that are that into it. Despite a huge stadium and being the most marketed NFL team, the Cowboys sound like their games are a snore fest on TV. Just my two cents.

The NFL obliterates college in TV viewership, even if they play on Saturday. Butts in seats and loud crowds and "intensity" aren't what pays the bills, nor does it show anything about a team's popularity.

Getting 10+million people per game on average to watch your league is what pays the bills. College rarely gets anywhere near that kind of audience and that's where the money is.

CFP viewership topped by Saturday NFL games

College football's 12-team playoff rollout was spoiled by the NFL, with the Texans-Chiefs getting 15.5 million viewers while the SMU-Penn State game averaged 6.4 million. The Steelers-Ravens game drew 15.4 million viewers to Clemson-Texas' 8.6 million.

www.espn.com

 

[HeavenUniversity]

The NFL obliterates college in TV viewership, even if they play on Saturday. Butts in seats and loud crowds and "intensity" aren't what pays the bills, nor does it show anything about a team's popularity.

Getting 10+million people per game on average to watch your league is what pays the bills. College rarely gets anywhere near that kind of audience and that's where the money is.

CFP viewership topped by Saturday NFL games

College football's 12-team playoff rollout was spoiled by the NFL, with the Texans-Chiefs getting 15.5 million viewers while the SMU-Penn State game averaged 6.4 million. The Steelers-Ravens game drew 15.4 million viewers to Clemson-Texas' 8.6 million.

www.espn.com

I am not referring to TV viewers. Actual at the game enthusiasm and atmosphere.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I am not referring to TV viewers. Actual at the game enthusiasm and atmosphere.

It's just as enthusiastic at NFL games as it is college games

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I am not referring to TV viewers. Actual at the game enthusiasm and atmosphere.

Well, the thread is about valuation which isn't an atmosphere issue, it's a viewership issue.

In order to increase valuation, marketing to a nationwide audience is key. Notre Dame is probably the best at drawing a nationwide audience though the Catholic Church tie in helps a lot for them.

Most SEC schools have very regionally concentrated fanbases. Alabama likely has quite a bit of bandwagon fans around the country but that'll drop with Saban gone. Duke, in ACC basketball, could probably claim a national fanbase but again, Coach K is gone now.

As valuation of college franchises becomes an issue for the business, developing a nationwide brand is the way to increase the worth of the business.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

The NFL obliterates college in TV viewership, even if they play on Saturday. Butts in seats and loud crowds and "intensity" aren't what pays the bills, nor does it show anything about a team's popularity.

Getting 10+million people per game on average to watch your league is what pays the bills. College rarely gets anywhere near that kind of audience and that's where the money is.

CFP viewership topped by Saturday NFL games

College football's 12-team playoff rollout was spoiled by the NFL, with the Texans-Chiefs getting 15.5 million viewers while the SMU-Penn State game averaged 6.4 million. The Steelers-Ravens game drew 15.4 million viewers to Clemson-Texas' 8.6 million.

www.espn.com

You do understand that has everything to do with the fact there are hundreds of colleges but only 32 NFL football teams! If there were only 32 college football teams and so fans had to consolidate to watch there would prob be more college football fans compared to NFL fans. I enjoy NFL ok and I watch it, but if you had to give me the choice to quit watching one or the other I’m watching college football all day everyday! The NFL gets the bump because they don’t have to split the pie as much and thus it pushes their ratings higher.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

You do understand that has everything to do with the fact there are hundreds of colleges but only 32 NFL football teams! If there were only 32 college football teams and so fans had to consolidate to watch there would prob be more college football fans compared to NFL fans. I enjoy NFL ok and I watch it, but if you had to give me the choice to quit watching one or the other I’m watching college football all day everyday! The NFL gets the bump because they don’t have to split the pie as much and thus it pushes their ratings higher.

Sure. There are VERY few college programs with significant monetary value also. Most athletic departments are underwater and supported by the schools.

When the inevitable split from schools comes and wheat and chaff are separated, the athletic departments that are viable as businesses will be less than 40, I'll bet. Most of those will dismiss the non-revenue sports back to the schools and retain football and/or basketball. A few will keep both with UT likely being one of those.

It's obvious the current mess is not sustainable and the business of paying athletes cannot continue to be done primarily by a 3rd party. The rub, of course, is that directly paying those athletes who will likely be labeled as employees will clash directly with a school's mission as an educational entity, not a pro franchise owner.

Separation means investors to buy the sports, investors means people looking for profit and showing a decent valuation is why articles about the value of the school's athletic programs appear in the WSJ. People are anticipating, running the numbers, on which schools are worth their investment.

 

[twoffo]

I think a more attractive ownership option for the big college sports brands would be one like the Green Bay Packers use, a non-profit that would funnel “profits” back to the university.