CNBC’s 75 most valuable college athletic programs for 2025 are worth a combined $51.22 billion. The "Fast Money" team is joined by senior sports reporter Mike Ozanian and Jason Belzer, publisher of the Athletic Director U to break down the numbers.

Wall Street

CNBC has released its annual list of the 75 most valuable college athletic programs, reporting a combined valuation of $51.2 billion, a 13% increase from the previous year. The University of Texas at Austin leads the rankings at nearly $1.5 billion, followed by Ohio State, Texas A&M, University of Georgia, and the University of Michigan.

The growth in valuations is attributed to lucrative media rights deals, expanded playoffs, conference realignment, and the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements. Experts note that NIL deals and new transfer rules are reshaping the landscape, enabling unexpected programs like Indiana and Vanderbilt to rise in value and competitive standing.

CNBC ranks the 75 most valuable college athletic programs

College sports valuations are soaring, fueled by massive media deals, expanded playoffs, conference realignment, and the rise of NIL deals. The top 75 athletic programs are now worth a total of $51.2 billion, up 13% from 2024, based on CNBC's official college valuations list that is out today. The University of Texas at Austin tops the list, valued at almost $1.5 billion, followed by The Ohio State, Texas A&M, University of Georgia, and the University of Michigan. Joining us now are the folks behind the list, CNBC senior sports reporter Michael Ozanian and Jason Belzer, publisher of Athletic Director U. Gentlemen, great to have you with us. Mike, I'm going to start it off with you. What's behind the list? How did you create it? Well, the list right now is basically being driven by the TV deals. You see that with the top of the list, the athletic programs and the Big Ten and the SEC, those conferences have the biggest TV deals in college sports. University of Texas usurped Ohio State, who was number one last year. University of Texas has the highest revenue of any athletic program. They had a huge surge in donor money last year, which was a big reason why their revenue went up. Mike, as you look at the college football landscape and the amount of money that's being put into the NILs, it's almost seemingly changed the landscape of the game, and it seems to be growing. In fact, many of these college athletes will make more money in college than they could ever dream of making in the pros. Who are some, I would just say, unexpected winners here? Is it going to continue to be the student athletes, or is it going to be some of the schools that maybe never got into the top five who now have repositioned? And maybe that means winning on the playing field. I mean, look at Vandy this year in the SEC, who never was there, but now suddenly is, and that's a self-fulfilling monetary payoff. Yeah, the player portal, right, where players are changing schools every year. It was an offensive tackle for one school, now he's playing for another school this year. A lot of that's driven by NIL money, as you just mentioned, Tim. And I think, you know, look, my daughter's a freshman at Indiana University, right? So three years ago, they weren't on the map as far as college football. Now they beat Ohio State, they're ranked number one going into the playoffs. That's the dynamic you're seeing here among college athletic programs, principally football, because of what you just said, Tim. Jason, when you look at the conflicts of interest, or potential conflicts of interest, when you look at these NIL deals and the boosters, tossing money in there, does that have any issue with inflating a lot of these teams' perceived valuation when you do your grids on these teams? The answer is no. We take a very objective approach to valuing these businesses. We look at their actual revenues, media rights, ticket sales, sponsorship. NIL does get factored in, but the rules have changed substantially. Starting this past season, universities can pay student athletes directly, and there is essentially a hard cap that's in place of approximately $20.5 million this year. There are some ways to get above that cap, but the reality is that technically, Ohio State and Indiana are paying their student athletes the same amount of money. That being said, and as Mike kind of pointed out, there is a tremendous arbitrage opportunity. The reason why Indiana is ranked number one going into the playoffs, the reason why they had a Heisman winner, is because of NIL, and there's a huge opportunity for an institution to be able to boost its value if it can deploy its capital right to their student athletes. you

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