Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: How valuable is the Sooner football program?

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 29: Oklahoma Sooners fans wait to enter the east side of the stadium before the game against the Kansas Jayhawks October 29, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 29: Oklahoma Sooners fans wait to enter the east side of the stadium before the game against the Kansas Jayhawks October 29, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

They say success breeds success, and we all know that Oklahoma football has had a ton of it both in terms of all-time wins and national recognition.

We also know that college football is a business. Head coaches at major college programs like Oklahoma earn big dollars, and that goes for assistants at the top programs as well. The introduction of Name, Image and Likeness has brought a whole new economic element to the college game with student-athletes receiving compensation through endorsements and use of their name and image in affiliation with a specific school.

It stands to logic that the football programs that win the most and win consistently would be valued the highest. And that those same schools would be at the top of the list in terms of revenue received from the sport of football. That may be true to a certain extent, but an analysis performed by the financial website GoBankingRates.com may surprise you, not so much as who it ranks as the 25 most valuable teams in college football, but where they rank.

The criteria used by the staff at Go Banking Rates is the revenue generated by football in the 2919-20 period.

Spoiler alert: Oklahoma is a top-10 performer in this aspect of the sport, much as it has been in on-the-field performance over the years.

The list is made up of the usual cast of characters, although some are not ranked or valued as high as you might expect. For example, Ohio State, which has one of the biggest athletic budgets in college sports, is ranked 22nd with 2019-20 football revenue of $43,835,452.

The University of Alabama, the best football school in the country in recent seasons, ranks No. 6 with reported revenue of $61,400,246.

Nine schools out of the SEC are ranked in the top 25. The SEC might not like this now, but it certainly will later. Texas ranks No. 2 with revenue of $97,223872, and No. 1 on the list and, therefore, the most valuable program in college football (at least for the last reporting period) is the Oklahoma Sooners with revenue of $101,119,170.

Home/OU Football