Nebraska Listed at $1.2 Billion Valuation Among College Football Elites

Nebraska remains one of the top brands in all of college football.

According to the Wall Street Journal's annual study of college football's wealthiest programs, Nebraska ranks No. 10 in estimated valuation at $1.236 billion. The Huskers rank even higher in adjusted revenue at $197 million, good for fourth place behind Texas ($298 million), Texas A&M ($218 million) and LSU ($213 million).

The study was conducted by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University Columbus. Using a variety of metrics, he calculated what every team would be worth if the program could be sold on an open market.

The Big Ten and SEC dominated the top 20 with nine programs apiece. That left room for just independent Notre Dame in sixth place and the Big 12's Colorado at No. 20.

Nebraska athletics director Troy Dannen smiles during the Northwestern game. — Troy Dannen, Nebraska's director of athletics. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Texas led the way in program valuation at $2.197 billion, well ahead of No. 2 Texas A&M at $1.593 billion and No. 3 Ohio State at $1.547 billion. The seven other programs ahead of Nebraska in the top 10 were LSU ($1.543 billion), Georgia ($1.472 billion), Michigan ($1.463 billion), Notre Dame ($1.418 billion), Penn State ($1.411 billion) and Alabama ($1.407 billion).

In the second 10 were Oklahoma ($1.153 billion), Washington ($1.147 billion), Tennessee ($1.114 billion), Auburn ($1.101 billion), Iowa ($1.017 billion), USC ($999 million), Florida ($978 million), Wisconsin ($963 million), Oregon ($873 million) and Colorado ($870 million).

Brewer determined that FBS programs' valuations as a whole climbed 46 percent in just one year. “There’s more value in college football than there’s ever been,” Brewer told the Journal. “Even though they’re paying players and it’s more expensive, it’s also worth more.”

Profound changes over the past half-decade have fueled rising valuations, revenue and spending across college football. Name, image and likeness payments entered the picture in 2021. This past season, schools were allowed to share $20.5 million in revenue with players. All the while, media-rights deals and big donors continue to pump more money into the pool.

Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule before the Huskers' 2025 season opener against Cincinnati. — Matt Rhule | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has remarked about the game's rising costs, particularly when it comes to matching other programs' spending to attract quality players.

“Make no mistake: a good quarterback in the portal costs $1 million to $1.5 million to $2 million right now,” Rhule said during a November 2023 press conference. “So just so we’re on the same page, right? Let’s make sure we all understand what’s happening. There are some teams that have $6-7 million players playing for them.”

Two years later, portal quarterbacks command even high prices. Rhule addressed the subject again this past fall, saying Nebraska can’t be tight-fisted in its roster spending.

“(Oregon coach) Dan Lanning had a great quote, ‘We’re investing to win,’ and that’s just players, right?” Rhule told reporters in October. “In a world of 30- and 40-million-dollar rosters – which isn’t going away – I’d like us to do the same thing. There’s sort of a like a, ‘Hey, that’s not the Nebraska way,’ and I’d like it to be.”

Nebraska’s lofty program valuation comes in spite of on-field performances that haven’t come close to top-10 status for more than a decade. The Huskers haven’t finished a season ranked in the Associated Press top 25 since 2012, but a slow build continues under Rhule as he prepares for his fourth season in Lincoln. In 2024 and ’25, Rhule got the Huskers to their first bowl games since 2016, and he will try to at least match that in 2026.

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