Ranking most valuable programs across college football

College football is synonymous with three things: tradition, entertainment and money. College football teams rake in millions of dollars each year for their schools, but not all programs are of equal worth. Much like in the NFL, the most valuable college football team, may not be the most successful football team.

GOBankingRates, using data acquired by Forbes, ranked the top 25 teams based on their three-year average revenue prior to the start of this season.

Despite less than exceptional track records in recent history, the big two Texas programs have led in the country’s top programs in revenue over the last three years.

SEC programs make up half of the top ten and nine of the top seventeen programs. Given the Alabama Crimson Tide’s success under Nick Saban, it’s no surprise to see Bama as the second most valuable SEC program after Texas A&M.

These are the top 25 most valuable college football programs in 2021.

25 Most Valuable D-I Football Programs

t-1. Texas A&M Aggies – $147 million
t-1. Texas Longhorns – $147 million
3. Michigan Wolverines – $139 million
4. Alabama Crimson Tide – $134 million
5. Ohio State Buckeyes – $132 million
6. Oklahoma Sooners – $129 million
7. Georgia Bulldogs – $125 million
8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish – $120 million
t-9. Florida Gators – $117 million
t-9. Auburn Tigers – $117 million
11. LSU Tigers – $114 million
12. Tennessee Volunteers – $113 million
13. Penn State Nittany Lions – $104 million
t-14. Oregon Ducks – $96 million
t-14. Florida State Seminoles – $96 million
t-16. South Carolina Gamecocks – $95 million
t-16. Arkansas Razorbacks – $95 million
18. USC Trojans – $93 million
19. Washington Huskies- $92 million
20. Nebraska Cornhuskers- $91 million
21. Iowa Hawkeyes – $89 million
22. Michigan State Spartans – $87 million
23. Wisconsin Badgers – $86 million
24. Ole Miss Rebels- $84 million
25. Clemson Tigers – $77 million

Valuable teams also the highest-spending

When comparing the most valuable teams to the highest-spending overall athletics departments, there’s a lot of overlap. In fact, the top five most valuable teams all have athletic departments that spend at the same clip, however, not in the same order.

Ohio State – $215,209,566
Michigan – $180,841,523
Texas – $173,648,028
Alabama – $173,141,125
Texas A&M – $159,136,624