But they all ignore the point of student athlete not athelete student in calculating economic value to the bloody alumni!!

Yup, still hanging their hats on the wins over Hillsdale college from 1890.

Can we just privatize these programs? Maybe take each of the conferences public via IPO. The SEC must be worth billions, plus whatever fan premium the bankers could get.

Texas may be the second most valuable program, but all that "value" hasn't translated into wins on the field. So what good is it?One might ask the same question of Jerry Jones and his most valuable pro sports franchise, the Dallas Cowboys. If "value" doesn't translate to wins, what good is it?

That's what is great about tonight's game--vastly different programs regarding financial support can play a competitive (I hope) football game.

Clearly there is a problem with methodology here: When Wyoming, located in Laramie and in a state with a population of under 1 M is ranked way ahead of Houston something is amiss. Would anyone contemplate an NFL team in Laramie?????

I'm amazed that Michigan is third on this list. After years of mismanangement at the hands of Rich Rod and Brady (C)Hoke, I assumed that M go Blue would have had to climb out of a deep hole. Thank God Jim Harbaugh showed up to make the hole much much more shallow. Run this analysis in five years and let us know just how much Michigan is worth then (if you can count that high, that is).In five years, (Sub)Urban Meyer will find himself feeling chest pains and needing to spend more time with his family again, with the wreckage of THE Ohio State Buckeyes in his wake (sound familiar, Gator fans?)

Gratis? A football scholarship isn't exactly chopped liver.

So this means when the the shift to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is complete Ohio State can sell off the football team to pay down their $3 Billion debt?

YES! Exactly. They should all do IPOs. Or pool into one of their conferences, and then IPO that. The universities could still retain some ownership, but let the fans and investors buy a stake. Maybe NFL teams could take a stake if they want a farm team.

How much was Penn State worth before Sandusky?Is the loss, tax deductible?How is this data derived if no free market forces apply?

State is #40

Congratulations to all the college football programs bringing revenue and supporters to their institutions. It is very big business, especially for larger universities which fill stadiums with 100,000 plus fans and have huge alumni. The NCAA College Football Program is a remarkable success.

IUPU in Columbus, Indiana.

Yesterday I read an NCAA report that claimed only 20 out of over 1000 universities made money on athletics in 2013.I would not spend hundreds of millions of dollars for any of these programs.

After tonight Clemson will jump up to the top ten!

Colleges need to eat their own socialist dog food. Redistribute the wealth between all these programs and watch what happens. Students, parents and politicians alike will finally understand how both market and command economies actually work. They could even have a course on this - "Fairness in College Football: From Barry Switzer to Barry Sanders".The danger of concussions on the field are miniscule compared to the brain damage inflicted on the general student population by their professors.

The value of a sports scholarship would depend on the obligations of the scholarship. When I see the playing schedule alone, let alone practice time, of my state's UConn basketball team, those players can't possibly have enough time to study and go to classes. Football, with only one game a week, might be different, depending on required practice time.

They fixed it... NC State is #40.

Colleges should eliminate all athletics except football and men's basketball. The rest are money losers and cause student fees to be increased so a few students can enjoy playing games.

"Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus". Is this a misprint? If not, in what city in which state does the Assistant Professor teach?

Nonsense. The author combines gives lip service to objective metrics like revenues and expenses - and then goes off on a tangent with his own subjective "adjustments".

Wut be a SAT?

Should switch to European model of independent Clubs and no sports in college...Waste of money for 50% graduation rate...75% of football players belong in trade school and 90% of basketball players...

What does the median Ohio State Football player get on his SAT?

When you consider "expenses," you start to wonder if the author has ever set foot on a university campus?