How much is Florida football's program worth? The Athletic ranks FBS teams by valuation
With NIL now here and the collegiate gridiron turned into a de facto professional league, one might wonder how much each school's program is worth as a whole — like how pro sports franchises have a value based on the fiscal aspects of the entity.
The Athletic's Matt Baker attempted to answer this query in his rankings of every Power 4 team by how much they'd sell for, in which he put together some numbers based on what we know about the business side of these operations. Of course, he offers the following caveat:
"Do not take our numbers to the bank, literally or metaphorically. Instead, consider this a fun attempt at blending back-of-the-envelope math with common sense to price college programs like their professional peers — an exercise that's theoretical for now … but might not be much longer," Baker warns.
So, where do the Florida Gators stand in these data?
Florida football's valuation, ranking per The Athletic
According to Baker's math, the Gators are the 12th most-valuable program in the country and seventh most-valuable in the Southeastern Conference.
"The Gators are also pursuing a major stadium upgrade that would significantly change the revenue picture; in January, the chairperson of the university's board of trustees publicly floated a $1 billion price tag for the project," he offers.
It is also noted that Florida's average annual football revenue is $98.5 million. However, Baker's counterpoint has been a source of agony for the Orange and Blue faithful.
"Florida's downside remains its on-field product. USC is the only other program in our top 12 that has never made the College Football Playoff, and the Gators have suffered through four consecutive seasons without finishing ranked."
SEC schools among top-30-ranked program values
A full dozen of the conference's 16 member schools cracked the top 30 of The Athletic's college football program valuations, with the Gators sitting near the midpoint at No. 7 among SEC programs.
The Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs occupy the two top spots in the league as well as overall, respectively, while the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 6 overall, No. 3 in SEC), Oklahoma Sooners (No. 7 overall, No. 4 in SEC), Tennessee Volunteers (No. 9 overall, No. 5 in SEC) and LSU Tigers (No. 10 overall, No. 6 in SEC) round out the top 10.
After Florida follow the Auburn Tigers (No. 13 overall, No. 8 in SEC), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 15 overall, No. 9 in SEC), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 23 overall, No. 10 in SEC), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 25 overall, No. 11 in SEC) and South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 257 overall, No. 12 in SEC).
NCAA FBS program valuation projections top 30 rankings
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