Five SEC programs landed in The Athletic’s top 10 when the outlet tried to put a theoretical price tag on college football’s biggest brands, and Texas came out on top again.
The Athletic published its valuation exercise Tuesday and pegged the Longhorns at $2.46 billion, the highest figure on the board. Ohio State followed at $2.3 billion, while Notre Dame checked in at $2.1 billion and Michigan rounded out the top four at $2 billion.
The SEC showed up in force after that. Georgia landed at No. 5 with a projected value of $1.95 billion, Alabama was next at $1.8 billion, Oklahoma came in at $1.6 billion and Tennessee finished at $1.57 billion.
The premise behind the rankings was simple enough, even if the numbers were eye-popping: what would it cost to buy an elite college football program on the open market? The Athletic leaned on actual sales from pro sports, then compared those deals to average revenue to help frame the college football exercise.
In that setup, the SEC and Big Ten were treated more like NFL and NBA franchises, while the ACC and Big 12 were grouped closer to MLB and NHL teams. The outlet also folded in school-reported financial figures along with brand strength, demographics and conference realignment.
Texas was also No. 1 in last season’s version of the list, when it was valued at $2.38 billion. Georgia, meanwhile, dropped three spots to No. 5 after increasing by $750 million in relative value from 2025.
“We’re exploring theoretical sales prices, which are not the same as what teams are actually worth.”
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