WSJ: LSU would be sixth most valuable football program in an open market.

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The Buckeyes would be worth $1.96 billion if the team could be sold on the open market, according to an analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. That puts Ohio State just ahead of Texas ($1.9 billion) and rival Michigan ($1.66 billion), with six other programs—Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M—topping the billion dollar mark.

Brewer conducts his study by analyzing a program’s finances and asking: What would it be worth if it could be bought and sold like a professional franchise?

Brewer looks at top-line revenues, growth and drivers of cash flow and makes projections about the sustainability of the operation, just as he would with any other business. It isn’t a mere one-year snapshot, either—he combed through years of data for 131 major college football programs, from the heavyweights all the way down to Louisiana-Monroe. Then, after breaking down everything from television viewership to trends in enrollment, his spreadsheet finally spits out an answer.

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Brewer’s analysis also accounts for factors that might not appear on any balance sheet. Alabama, for instance, used to get a bump simply because of the value one person brought to the program. But Nick Saban is no longer the coach of the Crimson Tide, and the team missed the expanded playoff without him.

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