The valuation of professional sports teams has taken a massive leap in the past decade. In 2016, Forbes valued the NFL's Dallas Cowboys at $4 billion. Earlier this summer, the Seattle Seahawks were up for sale after winning Super Bowl LX and were sold for a record $9.6 billion, a mark that is sure to be surpassed by the next team that is put on the market.
In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers, albeit one of the biggest brands in all of sports worldwide, sold for a whopping $10 billion, a record for the league. Simply put, with the TV deals, social media and rising ticket prices and attendance, professional sports teams are a cash cow nowadays.
Can the same be said for college football programs?
The answer is a resounding yes. The Athletic placed
a price tag on every Power 4 team and what their valuation would be if they were put on the open market, with Texas coming on top at $2.46 billion. Ohio State was next at $2.3 billion, while the Oregon Ducks were all the way down at No. 13 on the list — yet they're still worth $1.13 billion, a massive amount of money.
Despite the hefty price tag that is up from the No. 14 ranking and $990 million price tag last offseason, there's one big thing holding the Ducks back from being worth even more.
"We considered bumping the Ducks up even more after a second consecutive CFP appearance, but every program higher on this list has something Oregon doesn’t: a national title," The Athletic's Matt Baker wrote. "That minor detail keeps the Ducks in this tier."
Surrounding Oregon are programs like LSU, Florida, Auburn, Nebraska and Washington. All of whom are valued at over $1 billion.
With the uniforms, the top notch facilities, high-salary coaching staff and now high-salary roster, it shouldn't be much of a surprise to see Oregon's football program have such a significant price tag. Phil Knight takes care of the program in a way that hasn't been seen before in college football, lifting the price of a team from a relatively small college football town of Eugene into a billion-dollar operation.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon football program valued at over $1 billion, per The Athletic
