Auburn Tigers Still Among Most Valuable College Football Programs

Despite enduring one of the worst stretches in its history, a New York Times report considers Auburn Football among nation's most valuable programs.

88,000 strong at Jordan-Hare Stadium despite four-straight losing seasons helps make the Auburn Tigers a valuable brand. | Grayson Belanger/Auburn Tigers

Ryan Brewer, an Associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus, went through an exercise of determining the most valuable programs in college football in a Wall Street Journal article.

While NFL teams can be sold and college teams might of course be extremely valuable on paper - there remains no tangible way of proving the worth of college football teams on an open market… at least… not yet.

Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry says he is actively trying to buy college football and basketball teams.

Lasry says certain colleges could sell a 51% stake in their teams at a $500M to $750M valuation and then use that money for NIL and facility upgrades.

Crazy times. pic.twitter.com/glUempWB6S

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 6, 2024

Just out of simple curiosity, Auburn Tigers fans will be intrigued to discover that while they don't dine quite at the top table, the program still ranks 12th on the rich list, as compiled by Brewer.

Brewer takes into account sustained revenue from the programs including enrollment at their university, television revenue from their conference, and game day revenue among other things.

Despite four-straight-seven-loss seasons, the Auburn Family regularly fills Jordan-Hare Stadium with 88,000-plus on Saturday afternoons. It’s no coincidence that Auburn sits 12th on Brewer’s list while playing in college football’s 12th largest on-campus stadium. 

Ohio State sits atop the listing with a projected value of $1.96 billion if they could be sold on the open market. Texas and Michigan come in behind Ohio State at two and three respectively.

Other historically-big programs Notre Dame and Georgia also tip the scales on Brewers extensive list of the particularly well-heeled. 

While there's little doubt that extra national exposure brings in the dollars, it's noteworthy that it’s the accumulated-brand equity that determines the value of a program. There's a word for that that gets thrown around a lot in college football: Tradition.

Once you factor in multiple previous years of operating, and add in the ever increasing television revenues, it's perhaps not that surprising that it ends up giving Auburn a potential valuation of $833 million in Brewers expert analysis.

It's amazing to consider that the value of the Auburn program has undoubtedly risen through losing seasons on the Plains. In real terms, all of which should continue to make the Tigers mainstays when it comes to going toe-to-toe with other financial heavyweights in the bold new NIL era of college football. 

You could even say that the sleeping giant aspect of the Auburn Tigers program would prove to be an extremely lucrative and intriguing investment opportunity, but if only it could be played out somewhere other than on a spreadsheet.

Auburn’s intrinsic value remains strong, in large part because of its ability to pack a giant stadium and continue in the SEC. However, to maintain, or even increase, that perceived brand value, Auburn needs to get back into the business of competing for SEC and National Championships -- something it hasn’t done since 2013.