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11-20-2007, 09:10 PM
The Most Valuable College Football Teams - Forbes.com

In the past few years, there's been a big push by major college football teams to increase revenue through massive stadium expansions, lucrative premium seating and rich sponsorship and broadcast deals--the same blueprint the National Football League used for decades to create billion-dollar franchises.

The game plan is working in college, albeit on a much smaller scale: Last year, 10 college football teams raked in at least $45 million in revenues--among them, the University of Notre Dame, University of Georgia, Ohio State and Auburn University--compared to none five years ago.

Of course, college teams aren't sold in the open market like NFL teams. But the revenue they generate is extremely valuable. Our second annual ranking of the most valuable teams in college football is based on what the football programs contribute to four important beneficiaries: their university (the value of contributions from football to the institution for academic purposes, including scholarship payments for football players); athletic department (the net profit generated by the football program ultimately retained by the department); conference (the distribution of bowl game revenue); and local communities with a vested interest in the team (incremental spending in the county during home-game weekends). Our system weighs those four elements in declining order. This year's rankings were expanded from 15 to 20 teams.

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1. University of Notre Dame, Fighting Irish
Value: $101 million

2. University of Texas, Longhorns
Value: $92 million

3. University of Georgia, Bulldogs
Value: $90 million

4. University of Michigan, Wolverines
Value: $85 million

5. University of Florida, Gators
Value: $84 million

6. Louisiana State University, Tigers
Value: $76 million

7. University of Tennessee, Volunteers
Value: $74 million

8. Auburn University, Tigers
Value: $73 million

9. University of Alabama, Crimson Tide
Value: $72 million

10. Ohio State University, Buckeyes
Value: $71 million

11. University of Oklahoma, Sooners
Value: $70 million

12. University of South Carolina, Gamecocks
Value: $69 million

13. Pennsylvania State University, Nittany Lions
Value: $69 million

14. University of Southern California, Trojans
Value: $53 million

15. University of Arkansas, Razorbacks
Value: $53 million

16. Texas A&M University, Aggies
Value: $50 million

17. University of Washington, Huskies
Value: $50 million

18. University of Nebraska, Cornhuskers
Value: $49 million

19. Michigan State University, Spartans
Value: $44 million

20. University of Wisconsin, Badgers
Value: $43 million