College football financial listing reveals winners, losers

Everybody loves a list.

And most sports fans love numbers and rankings.

That’s why I wanted to include the entire list of the Football Bowl Subdivision “FBS 100” on this blog.

Indiana University finance professor Ryan Brewer recently completed and released to the Indianapolis Business Journal a 242-page study that places valuations on college football programs as if they were businesses for sale. The fascinating study was more than two years in the making.

Brewer valued the college football franchises the way a Wall Street analyst would value a business operation, based on cash flow history and myriad other factors.

I’m not going to detail the methodology, because I did much of that in an article that appeared in the Oct. 10 print edition of the IBJ.

It is worth noting that only public schools are included on the list. So there are no valuations included for Notre Dame, Southern Cal or Miami of Florida. Based on a 2008 study he completed on Notre Dame, Brewer thinks the Irish could be at the head of the list.

The Southeastern Conference has six teams in the top 10 of Brewer’s rankings. The Big Ten had six schools in the top 15.

Texas and Alabama are the only states with two schools in the top 15 in Brewer’s FBS 100 ranking. Michigan is close, with Michigan State ranking No. 16.

Twenty one schools have a $0 valuation because the programs lack sufficient cash flow to warrant a positive valuation, Brewer said. And eight schools on the list have a negative valuation because they suck funds from the larger university to support operations.

1. Texas $848.3 million
2. Georgia $483.6 million
3. Penn State $446.9 million
4. Florida $421.8 million
5. LSU $397.4 million
6. Michigan $393.5 million
7. Alabama $374.3 million
8. Auburn $359.4 million
9. Oklahoma $343 million
10. Tennessee $321.3 million
11. South Carolina $316.8 million
12. Ohio State $292.8 million
13. Nebraska $284.7 million
14. Texas A&M $245.9 million
15. Iowa $245.8 million
16. Michigan State $239.4 million
17. Arkansas $235.7 million
18. Oklahoma State $155.2 million
19. Wisconsin $153.3 million
20. Kentucky $152.5 million
21. West Virginia $141.2 million
22. Washington $136.2 million
23. Mississippi $136 million
24. Virginia Tech $134.2 million
25. Clemson $131 million
26. Minnesota $126.5 million
27. Colorado $122.7 million
28. Illinois $122 million
29. Arizona State $105.7 million
30. Oregon $102 million
31. North Carolina State $101.8 million
32. Texas Tech $100.4 million
33. Missouri $99.4 million
34. Arizona $93.2 million
35. Georgia Tech $85 million
36. Indiana $77.8 million
37. Oregon State $73.4 million
38. UCLA $66.1 million
39. North Carolina $65.2 million
40. Boise State $64.8 million
41. Iowa State $59.9 million
42. Kansas State $59.8 million
43. Cal Berkley $55.9 million
44. Purdue $55.5 million
45. Central Florida $53.8 million
46. Utah $44.8 million
47. Pittsburgh $44 million
48. Mississippi State $43.3 million
49. South Florida $38.9 million
50. Washington State $32.1 million
51. Louisville $30.4 million
52. Virginia $28.2 million
53. Wyoming $24.7 million
54. Florida State $23.6 million
55. Fresno State $23.1 million
56. UTEP $18.7 million
57. Cincinnati $15 million
58. Maryland $14.99 million
59. Kansas $14.9 million
60. Idaho $14.5 million
61. San Diego State $11.8 million
62. Eastern Michigan $9.1 million
63. San Jose State $6.9 million
64. Florida International $6.3 million
65. East Carolina $6.2 million
66. Troy $3.1 million
67. UAB $2.6 million
68. Louisiana Tech $2.3 million
69. Nevada $1.1 million
70. Bowling Green $876,287
71. Ohio $696,035
72. Arkansas State $0
73. Ball State $0
74. Central Michigan $0
75. Colorado State $0
76. Kent State $0
77. Marshall $0
78. Miami of Ohio $0
79. Middle Tennessee $0
80. Buffalo $0
81. Temple $0
82. Akron $0
83. UConn $0
84. Louisiana Lafayette $0
85. Louisiana Monroe $0
86. Memphis $0
87. New Mexico $0
88. North Texas $0
89. Southern Miss $0
90. Toledo $0
91. Western Kentucky $0
92. Western Michigan $0
93. Rutgers -$19
94. New Mexico State -$2.2 million
95. Houston -$4.3 million
96. Utah State -$7.1 million
97. UNLV -$13.1 million
98. Hawaii -$18.7 million
99. Florida Atlantic -$22.2 million
100. Northern Illinois -$32.3 million