The University of Texas will have some serious decisions to make in the coming days regarding its beloved mascot, Bevo XV.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal released ($) a thought-provoking article regarding Texas, bringing attention to the football program.
Now, Texas fans, faculty, alumni and administrators are left with no choice but to be honest with themselves, thinking with both the best interest of the university as well as Bevo XV, when asking one of the most important questions the university has ever faced: Should Texas rename Bevo XV “Billy 1.1”?
Personally, I feel like it should to commemorate the fact that the University of Texas’ football program is reportedly the most valuable of its kind in all of college football, at a total net worth of a mind-boggling $1.1 billion.
Texas overtakes Ohio State for nation’s most valuable college football program.
— Rachel Bachman (@Bachscore) January 7, 2019
The Longhorns are worth $1.1 billion: https://t.co/sUBz6Gnelj
Sing it with me, Jay-Z fans.
“A billi, a billi, a billi, a billionaire. I feel like Philli Collins I feel a billion is in the air.”
At Texas A&M, they hang banners and print t-shirts for this sort of thing. But, unfortunately for our little brother in College Station, the Aggies’ football program is worth half as much as Texas’ program at roughly $541 million. Maybe they should rename their dog mascot “Half as valuable” to commemorate yet another category in which Texas A&M’s football program does not, in fact, run things.
Maybe next year the Aggies will play in another bowl game that’s half as important as the one Texas plays in. How about a Jimbo Fisher thumbs up for the fighting bargain Aggies of Texas A&M.
But enough about the unwanted items on the sale rack, let’s focus on the news at hand.
The Wall Street Journal’s report listed the top 20 college football programs based on a formula that was created by a gentleman named Ryan Brewer, who just so happens to be an associate professor of finance at Indiana-University-Purdue-University-Columbus, which just so happens to be in the Indiana University network, which is a sister school to Indiana and Indiana-University-Purdue-University-Indianapolis, where I just so happened to get my Indiana degree.
(I wanted to add where I got my degree once I saw it was relevant to this article specifically for all the Aggies who will be drawn to this article out of furious anger and inferiority, just so they can fill the comments with “t-shirt fan!” and other comments that make them feel tough.)
But I digress.
The formula used by Professor Brewer calculates what a college football program would be worth on the open market if it was to be sold like a professional sports franchise. This takes into consideration cash-flow, expenses, revenues, risk assessments, and growth projections, according to the article.
In short, if these football programs could be sold like professional franchises, there are 11 football teams would give the purchaser more bang for his or her buck than the Aggies, with Texas presenting the biggest return on investment, which means someone would want Texas more than Texas A&M.
However, though Texas A&M is essentially a peasant school according to the article, it isn’t all bad news for the Aggies.
That’s because the SEC holds nine of the top 20 most valuable football teams, according to Professor Brewer’s study.
Here’s the top 10 list including the rough estimates for each team. May Texas football fans celebrate finally being No. 1 at something once again as Texas A&M fans chant “SEC!”
1. Texas: $1.1 billion
2. Ohio State: $1 billion
3. Alabama: $1 billion
4. Michigan: $924 million
5. Notre Dame: $913 million
6. Georgia: $891 million
7. Oklahoma: $885 million
8. Auburn: $871 million
9. LSU: $852 million
10. Tennessee: $727 million
*Not in the top 10 just like the final college football polls: Texas A&M