Tennessee was ranked the third most-valuable program in college football by Forbes on Tuesday afternoon.
Forbes’ methodology, which takes into account factors such as university value, revenue and expense data and value to local economy, ranked Tennessee behind only the University of Texas and Notre Dame. The Vols’ value was estimated at $127 million.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“The Volunteers have been far from successful on the field in their three seasons under Butch Jones, posting just 20 wins and beating only two ranked teams…
Yet, as we’ll get into below, our valuation methodology relies heavily on team earnings directed toward academics and other athletic programs. And while most SEC teams saw a sizable boost in revenue this year, none were as good as Tennessee at maximizing their bottom line and filling their athletic department’s coffers (only Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State spent less than the Vols). The Volunteers had a profit margin of 74% of revenue last year, second only to Texas. Just seven other teams in the nation earned more than 60% of revenue.”
You can read the full report here.
