Forget the Turmoil, Michigan Football is Worth Billions

Michigan football was recently evaluated as worth $2 billion. Here's what that means for fans.

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A recent evaluation by The Athletic judged the value of Michigan’s football program at $2 billion - what a hypothetical buyer would need to pay were the Wolverines available for purchase as a professional sports franchise. 

Contextualizing the price point

It’s a staggering figure, one that places Michigan fourth on the list of the most valuable college football programs. The Wolverines are worth hundreds of millions of dollars more than almost every other program in the sport, and only trail Texas, Ohio State, and Notre Dame in this capital metric.

Placing the number in a broader context, a two billion dollar price tag would render Michigan football more valuable than most sports entities in the world. Though less valuable than the behemoth organizations of the NFL and NBA, 17 NHL franchises, 11 MLB teams, and all but six soccer clubs the Premier League would sell for an inferior price. 

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Though valuations do not directly reflect how much a team spends, how modern its facilities are, or even how competitive an organization is in their sport at any given moment, they do gauge how powerful a brand is. It’s worth remembering that Michigan is as powerful as any in a moment like right now. 

What does it matter?

Well, a lot has been made about the state of affairs at Michigan recently.

Dramas from the Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore eras are still flickering in college football’s collective consciousness, their presence inflamed by this month’s Warde Manuel contract deliberations. Is it time to reevaluate the character of Michigan football?

Last year’s relative mediocrity and an at-times shaky season from an 18-year old, yet top-ranked recruit, Bryce Underwood, invited questions about the quality of Michigan football, concerns not entirely put to bed by the hiring of a professional, proven, though older, head coach. Is Michigan football still what it once was on the field?

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For pundits, outside observers, and even for Michigan faithful, doubting the football program has been an obvious turn. And although there appears to be ample forward momentum on the recruiting trail, in player development, and in what’s generally been reported out of Ann Arbor as of late, it is still easy to remain pessimistic about Michigan’s outlook when considering all the baggage attached to the program and how turbulent the past couple seasons have been. 

But the thing to remember, what is elucidated by reports such as The Athletic, is that Michigan simply isn’t going anywhere. The brand is too powerful, the program too entrenched, and the resources too plentiful for the Block M to remain anywhere but in the upper echelons of the sport for extended periods of time. 

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Michigan may hire the wrong man or shoot itself in the foot every now and again - though it certainly shouldn’t as often as it appears to have as of late. But the luxury of being a Michigan fan is that there will always be the appetite and ability for improvement and positive change in Ann Arbor. 

Why?... How? 

Because the Wolverines are worth two billion bucks.