CNBC’s Official College Sports Valuations 2025: Top 75 athletic programs
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
not sure if you're serious here. If you think the value of a school athletics program is based solely on rev/expense of an athletic department then I've got a great bridge to sell you. your previous post was a good start
Big Ten teams:
#2 Ohio State
#5 Michigan
#8 USC
#10 Nebraska
#11 Pedd State
#16 Oregon
#17 Wisconsin
#19 Iowa
#20 Illinois
#25 Washington
#26 Michigan State
#27 Indiana
#32 Minnesota
# 34 Purdue
#44 Northwestern
#52 UCLA
#53 Maryland
#56 RUTGERS
RU is last in the league.
Some of our old friends: #54 Boston College, #58 West Virginia, #59 Syracuse, and #71 UConn.
#2 Ohio State
#5 Michigan
#8 USC
#10 Nebraska
#11 Pedd State
#16 Oregon
#17 Wisconsin
#19 Iowa
#20 Illinois
#25 Washington
#26 Michigan State
#27 Indiana
#32 Minnesota
# 34 Purdue
#44 Northwestern
#52 UCLA
#53 Maryland
#56 RUTGERS
RU is last in the league.
Some of our old friends: #54 Boston College, #58 West Virginia, #59 Syracuse, and #71 UConn.
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Oops. I don't know how I missed that. It seemed improbable so I checked twice...maybe even a third time.
And no....I wasn't high when I posted that list.
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Isn't UCLA the most applied to school in the US? Maybe their football program sucks now but their basketball program is legendary and they are in the 2nd largest market right in the middle of the major city in a great neighborhood.
Taking even our scarlet lenses off the list is ridiculous. Minnesota or Iowa is worth more than that? On what planet?
I would imagine UCLA being one part of a much bigger state university system has an impact
That, and the fact that the basketball program, while good, hasn't been "legendary" for 45-50 years.
The valuations in the initial post are inaccurate. The mind behind the numbers is Jason Belzer, a 3x Rutgers grad and Rutgers law professor.
Let's look at Rutgers.
Rutgers sports did a deficit of $54 million in 2023. In 2024, the loss widened to $70 million. The 2025 results will be out in January 2026. My estimate is the latest annual red ink spilled will be in the $80 million range.
Fast forward to 2026. Revenue sharing - the $ transferred from the university into the athletic department to pay players - will put up athletic department spending by $20 million more. The Rutgers athletic department is staring down a $100 million structural deficit, each year.
Turning to the valuations. When the value of an investment is the current value of future cash flows, who would value an investment losing eight figures and maybe nine figures a year indefinitely at a positive $506 million?
Nobody with money to invest.
Let's look at Rutgers.
Rutgers sports did a deficit of $54 million in 2023. In 2024, the loss widened to $70 million. The 2025 results will be out in January 2026. My estimate is the latest annual red ink spilled will be in the $80 million range.
Fast forward to 2026. Revenue sharing - the $ transferred from the university into the athletic department to pay players - will put up athletic department spending by $20 million more. The Rutgers athletic department is staring down a $100 million structural deficit, each year.
Turning to the valuations. When the value of an investment is the current value of future cash flows, who would value an investment losing eight figures and maybe nine figures a year indefinitely at a positive $506 million?
Nobody with money to invest.
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Yes, UCLA is the most applied-to four-year university, according to UCLA.
The vast majority of UCLA admitted students are Asian and Hispanic, groups that care more about baseball and soccer than college basketball and college football. The UCLA alumni base and rich Angelenos don't care about funding or attending UCLA sports.
UCLA's athletic department is hurting as badly as Rutgers.
Yes. Rutgers is consistently last of the of the 52 public power conference schools on donations.
Here are the donation amounts for past 10 fiscal years.
2015 $8,860,303 Hermann
2016 $7,980,761 Hobbs
2017 $7,128,280 Hobbs
2018 $7,161,713 Hobbs
2019 $5,578,315 Hobbs
2020 $2,888,715 Hobbs
2021 $6,159,587 Hobbs
2022 $7,230,919 Hobbs
2023 $6,185,257 Hobbs
2024 $8,539,129 Hobbs
Source: NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System
What does your second sentence mean?
Normally donations would not be included in the value of a franchise. It appears they might have included them in their calculations, which moved Texas from #2 to #1.
Pretty sure the Heisman winner is Hispanic. I don't see what that has to do with anything.
It's the same thing as here where when we're winning more people care. It would be like saying the Giants and Jets should be 31 and 32 in value because of how bad they are and local demographics and ignoring the rest of reality.
Post #18 shows donations to Rutgers athletics are recurring revenue in the amount of mid-to-high 7 * figures per year. Rutgers athletics donations have value.
* Edit - corrected to 7 figures
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I'd call that mid to high 7 figures, not 8. And Texas is over $100 million in the year covered, 9 figures. The question is what the other schools got.
Thanks. Fixed 8 to 7 figures.
Here is what the Power 5 schools are getting in donations. Source: NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System.
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Look at USC vs UCLA in donations and their valuations. Clearly donations are taken into account in their valuations.
And Indiana is amazing no matter how you look at it, but about 3X the amount Rutgers receives