Ranking college football's most valuable teams in 2025: SEC, Big Ten in the lead

LSU’s value: $1.23 billion

One of college football’s consistent winners and most well-attended programs, LSU is yet to make the College Football Playoff in head coach Brian Kelly’s tenure, but he has won 29 games and went 3-0 in bowl appearances in his three years with the school.

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9. Tennessee

Tennessee’s value: $1.37 billion

Josh Heupel has won double-digit games in two of his seasons as head coach, and the Vols got a little bump in valuation after making their first College Football Playoff. But they’ll need to play better going forward than they did this time out after a 25-point loss in the first round.

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8. USC

USC’s value: $1.4 billion

The historic move the Trojans, along with three other former Pac-12 schools, made to the Big Ten may not make geographic sense when looking at a map, but its makes for good business as the school aligns itself with the conference’s mega media deal. USC’s brand and Los Angeles location are monster assets, even if Lincoln Riley is just 26-14 in three years.

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7. Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s value: $1.49 billion

Brent Venables is just 22-17 in his three seasons with the Sooners, is 0-3 in bowl games, and went over .500 once, but this is still one of the 10 most valuable programs in college football, but the race is on for Venables to keep OU a contender as it embarks on life in the much-tougher SEC.

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6. Alabama

Alabama’s value: $1.74 billion

One of a select few college football programs that has dominated the national scene for decades on end, the Crimson Tide boast two legendary head coaches in Bear Bryant and Nick Saban, who by themselves are responsible for bringing the school more than 19 percent of every national championship in the sport with their dozen combed titles since 1961. Gene Stallings won another in 1992.

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5. Michigan

Michigan’s value: $1.83 billion

College football’s first program to win over 1,000 games, Michigan also won its first national championship of the 21st century a year ago, helping reinforce its standing nationally. The program also just signed top-ranked 2025 recruit Bryce Underwood to a big NIL deal and plays in one of the most recognizable and expansive venues in the nation.

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4. Notre Dame

Notre Dame’s value: $1.85 billion

Head coach Marcus Freeman singlehandedly helped Notre Dame increase its value this past season, his third with the school, leading the football program to a national championship game appearance, and as an independent, it gets to keep all that CFP money, more than $20 million, for itself.

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3. Ohio State

Ohio State’s value: $1.9 billion

Ohio State has never been short on resources, designated as “recession-proof” by The Athletic, and much was said of the Buckeyes’ purported $20 million roster investments coming into last season in an active transfer portal campaign. It certainly paid off as the scarlet and gray won the first-ever 12-team playoff national championship.

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2. Georgia

Georgia’s value: $1.92 billion

Few programs in college football put as much work into acquiring talent as the Bulldogs, and their recruiting success has resulted in two consecutive national championships in recent years, dramatically increasing Georgia’s already-lucrative brand. Having a population in the state that doubled in size over the last generation has also helped.

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1. Texas

Texas’ value: $2.38 billion

Having extra cash on hand has never been an issue for the Longhorns, who routinely top or nearly top rankings of this kind, given the program’s inexhaustible rotation of rich donors, unmatched high school recruiting scene, and reserve of passionate fans, all of which helped the program to more than a quarter-billion dollars in revenue in its first year as members of the SEC.

(Athletic)

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