In light of college football’s ongoing changes, with schools beginning to pay athletes directly and the NCAA’s power continuing to fade, it may not be too long before the sport’s top franchises become attractive assets for private equity investors.
Of course, a lot would still need to happen before that occurs. The top Football Bowl Subdivision programs would need to officially break away from the NCAA and form their own independent league — a de facto professional minor league for the NFL. After that, programs would need to make the players official professional employees, as well as reach a deal with the schools, from which they are now separated, to maintain their branding. Wisconsin would need to still be Wisconsin, Iowa would need to be Iowa, and so on.
How the sport’s structure will change over the next four or five years is anyone’s guess. But in the big picture, it appears ripe for outside investment.
The Athletic recently published a fascinating preview of what that investment could look like, projecting the potential purchase valuation of each of college football’s top programs. The projections are far from exact, as author Matt Baker attempted to compare each program to similarly-sized professional teams with comparable revenue. Still, the article serves as an intriguing starting point as the conversation surrounding outside investment heats up.
Now, where did Wisconsin fall?
The Badgers were the No. 19 overall team in The Athletic’s projection with a valuation of $801 million. More specifically, it was the No. 8-highest-valued Big Ten program.
Texas leads the projection with a valuation of $2.38 billion, followed by Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan at $1.92 billion, $1.9 billion, $1.85 billion and $1.83 billion, respectively. Of note, nine SEC and seven Big Ten programs are listed before the ACC’s first (Florida State). That list continues further before the Big 12’s Utah slots in at No. 29.
Again, these numbers are far from exact. They should serve as an interesting comparison point as the college football landscape continues to undergo dramatic shifts.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: The Athletic predicts the hypothetical purchase price of the Wisconsin football program
Reporting by Ben Kenney, Badgers Wire / Badgers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
