UConn in Top 75 most valuable Sports Programs

[UCFBfan]

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/19/college-sports-programs-valuations.html

UConn clocks in at 71 with a valuation of $178 million. One of 5 G5 programs in the Top 75 and the second most in the G5 only behind SDSU and ahead of Boise St. Granted basketball is a huge part to this but this shows how much our school should hold value to the P4.

 

[NowInStorrs]

We're in the first four out.

 

[Hoophound]

Makes no real sense. There doesn’t seem to be a real correlation between revenue and value. We have higher revenue and far better programs than many ranked above us. Look at the values of BC, Cuse and Oregon State, They do nothing and their athletic departments are worth 2-3 times what ours is? I don’t think so. I think a P4 slot would triple or quadruple our value based on what I see here.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Makes no real sense. There doesn’t seem to be a real correlation between revenue and value. We have higher revenue and far better programs than many ranked above us. Look at the values of BC, Cuse and Oregon State, They do nothing and their athletic departments are worth 2-3 times what ours is? I don’t think so. I think a P4 slot would triple or quadruple our value based on what I see here.

They are valuing cash flow (probably, not going to bother reading). We are being deprived a significant cash flow.

 

[CashewCrew]

That seems totally made up, Syracuse is worth 3x UConn? I don’t think so

 

[cellocgg]

I'm assuming the list includes conference media revenue. If UConn were in the P4 our revenue would likely jump to at least 140M and our valuation would probably land 400-600M

 

[king conn]

The other schools have bigger media contracts , it is really quite simple

The interesting aspect of it is, if you add the big 12 media contract and cfp money to our total, we become virtually tied with the highest team in the big 12 in total revenue.

 

[Viet Vet]

It’s all about football. Period.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm assuming the list includes conference media revenue. If UConn were in the P4 our revenue would likely jump to at least 140M and our valuation would probably land 400-600M

And if my aunt had balls, ....

 

[ZooCougar]

It’s all about football. Period.

Unfortunately for us.

Seems like D1 schools are getting taken to the cleaners in basketball. It's worth quite a bit. Where is all the money going?

 

[Kolumbo]

Valuations all start at 4x revenue and then adjusted for the other variables. Good discussion in the private equity thread. UConn lags because of no affiliation with a football conference. The foundation has been there. The power conference $$ has not. UConn is that investment opportunity just waiting in the wings.

The Private Equity College Sports Hellscape Thread

We both know school costs aren't rising to cover athletes. They're rising because of admin bloat and expensive buildings I don't know how you come up with that statement as a response.

the-boneyard.com

 

[ZooCougar]

To fund all the other sports unlike football

No. I mean there is a ton of money being made on basketball, but it’s not getting to the schools.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And if my aunt had balls, ....

Get with the times. She'd still be your aunt.

 

[ZooCougar]

ACC to Earn the Most of Any Conference From March Madness

Thanks to a surprise NC State run to the Final Four, the ACC earned a larger units payout from March Madness 2024 than any other conference.

www.sportico.com

I’ve posted this before but it goes to your point.

The NCAA make $1B/year from March Madness and the most any conference got was $34MM!

Now, they’ve agreed to use this money to fund the House settlement.

The NCAA treats March Madness money like it’s their personal slush fund to do whatever they want with.

This is what I was getting at.

Hurley talks about this too.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

ACC to Earn the Most of Any Conference From March Madness

Thanks to a surprise NC State run to the Final Four, the ACC earned a larger units payout from March Madness 2024 than any other conference.

www.sportico.com

I’ve posted this before but it goes to your point.

The NCAA make $1B/year from March Madness and the most any conference got was $34MM!

Now, they’ve agreed to use this money to fund the House settlement.

The NCAA treats March Madness money like it’s their personal slush fund to do whatever they want with.

Serious question. Why don’t the power conferences (and Big East) “take” March Madness like they did the CFP? They already have precedent for it.

 

[Stinger92860]

They are valuing cash flow (probably, not going to bother reading). We are being deprived a significant cash flow.

I was unable to find the details. I’m curious, if you added expected cash flow increase from an ACC or B12 where would that place us? We should take into account higher Ticket Revenues for Football.

 

[UCFBfan]

It’s all about football. Period.

This was my point in this. Even with football being the driving factor, we rank second out of all the G5 schools and have no conference to provide additional TV revenue or bowl revenue

 

[JohnFSilver]

Makes no real sense. There doesn’t seem to be a real correlation between revenue and value. We have higher revenue and far better programs than many ranked above us. Look at the values of BC, Cuse and Oregon State, They do nothing and their athletic departments are worth 2-3 times what ours is? I don’t think so. I think a P4 slot would triple or quadruple our value based on what I see here.

Revenue generation.

 

[Hoophound]

Revenue generation.

Yes, but there’s schools way ahead of us with less revenue. Those schools are/were in a P4 but still don’t generate more than us. They shouldn’t be ranked ahead of us unless you get P4 bonus points. Our value is probably 2-3x in a P4.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Houston didn't make the list.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Yes, but there’s schools way ahead of us with less revenue. Those schools are/were in a P4 but still don’t generate more than us. They shouldn’t be ranked ahead of us unless you get P4 bonus points. Our value is probably 2-3x in a P4.

Not all revenue is treated equally in the valuations. Longer term/guaranteed revenue such as the network TV revenue carries more weight than shorter term corporate sponsorships, for example.

 

[Kolumbo]

Looking at this list from a business/finance standpoint, next up to be invited to a bigger revenue conference from the G5 would be the below listed. I'd like to see the rest of the list and where the rest of the P4 fall.

67 SDSU
71 UConn
72 Boise St
73 East Carolina
74 South Florida
75 Memphis

Makes sense because they are always in the conversation. 3 are in AAC, 2 are going PAC. And then UConn. Rather than look at P4, we know there are a number of G5 programs spread out, and the PAC was trying to get the best of the rest. The AAC is always the just on the outside and ready to be poached. If the best of the AAC and the PAC merged, there should be a lot of value there. Or just merge the entire AAC and PAC for I think 21 football programs. Add 1 more (hmmm hmmm) to make it 22 with 2 divisions.

There are a lot of corrections at the bottom of the article:

"Correction: This story has been updated to correct the valuations for North Carolina State University, which is worth $481 million, and for Ohio State University, which is worth $1.32 billion. It also corrects the rankings of 16 schools on CNBC’s list and corrects that Brigham Young University is a private university. This story has also been updated to correct aggregate valuation data for the ACC conference, which is worth about $10 billion or about $558 million per school."

 

[pj]

Makes no real sense. There doesn’t seem to be a real correlation between revenue and value. We have higher revenue and far better programs than many ranked above us. Look at the values of BC, Cuse and Oregon State, They do nothing and their athletic departments are worth 2-3 times what ours is? I don’t think so. I think a P4 slot would triple or quadruple our value based on what I see here.

Tripling makes sense, that would put us around Pitt, Baylor, and Mississippi State. Quadrupling seems a reach, that would put us with Florida State, Stanford, Michigan State, Auburn.

Tripling would add about $360 million to our value which is the net present value of a $40 million revenue stream which is about the ACC or B12 payout increase from the Big East. So that makes sense.

 

[Hoophound]

Tripling makes sense, that would put us around Pitt, Baylor, and Mississippi State. Quadrupling seems a reach, that would put us with Florida State, Stanford, Michigan State, Auburn.

Tripling would add about $360 million to our value which is the net present value of a $40 million revenue stream which is about the ACC or B12 payout increase from the Big East. So that makes sense.

Right. However, my reasoning for saying 3-4x is that we actually have two big programs in basketball and our football would be comparable to those schools if in a P4. We also have a totally captive audience in a fairly large and wealthy market. We don’t share our market with anyone.

UConn is getting slandered in this. ECU etc. shouldn’t be in our zip code.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Right. However, my reasoning for saying 3-4x is that we actually have two big programs in basketball and our football would be comparable to those schools if in a P4. We also have a totally captive audience in a fairly large and wealthy market. We don’t share our market with anyone.

UConn is getting slandered in this. ECU etc. shouldn’t be in our zip code.

We should get the NPV of about 80% of the BE TV contract.

 

[Kolumbo]

It's the same circular illogic the dude from Locked on Big 12 initially used against UConn, claiming UConn didn't rank high enough in revenue, when we know it didn't rank higher because it didn't have P4 revenue. from this article, every program starts at 4x revenue and then the value is adjusted. UConn gets dinged for not being in a valuable conference while others get a conference bonus value. If UConn were in a power conference, it's value would probably be closer to 5x revenue or about 57th place. ($93m x 5 = $465m). And since revenue would also increase in a power conference it might bump UConn up to about 30th place ($130m x 5 = $650m). And so on....

"The revenue figures are from the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for the fiscal year 2023. The list is reflective of the current enterprise value of each program, starting with a base revenue multiple of four for all institutions, and then adjusting the multiple for variables, including conference affiliation, estimated NIL spend, school subsidies, number of alumni and other factors that can catalyze future revenue growth and profitability."

 

[ZooCougar]

Football remains our biggest opportunity. Further investment will give us a good return and benefit the whole AD.

 

[Fishy]

Their methodology is so simplistic and flawed on the revenue side that I can’t believe people think it has any value. They are literally guessing on so many of their metrics.

You will walk on Mars before San Diego State actually has revenue of $105M.

 

[Waquoit]

Their methodology is so simplistic and flawed on the revenue side that I can’t believe people think it has any value. They are literally guessing on so many of their metrics.

Yup, doesn't even rise to the level of "fun with numbers."

 

[Kolumbo]

Why is UVA apparently the B1G/SEC target and Tech isn't?

The SEC has The Flagship University in each member state. Kentucky, while Louisville probably has better football. And if UVA were in the SEC, that would surely change their recruiting process, if UVA wanted to. UVA and Va Tech would probably be a very good combo to grab, but at this point, it seems one school per state is the strategy.

UNC and UVA are the prime jewels because both the B1G and SEC would value them, if not for the GOR.