Money makes the world go round.
If that's the case, Ohio State might be getting dizzy.
The Wall Street Journal released a report on the value of college football programs.
According to the report and an analysis by Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, the Ohio State program is worth $1.5 billion.
"That's a 59.6% increase in value for a program that was already worth the most nationally according to the study, which analyzes what each team would be worth on the open market if sold like a professional sports franchise."
Texas ($1.24 billion) and Oklahoma ($1 billion) are second and third, respectively.
Fear not, SEC fans, you have a distinction all your own.
The report finds the SEC has the highest average team value, per conference, at $523 million, followed by the Big Ten ($416 million) and Big 12 ($376 million).
The value of most programs has increased, per the report, which cites a 26 percent spike in the numbers since 2015 numbers.
Also, up are cash flows (rose 24 percent) and revenues (19).
"It's been tremendous," said Brewer, who added NFL rating have declined but not college football rating. "So far this season, we can confirm that college football is still strongly attended and strongly viewed."
The top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide check in on the list at No. 4 with an estimated value of $930 million.
Auburn checks in at No. 10 on the list at $724,191,000.
Troy is No. 102 at $14,879,000, and South Alabama and UAB are not listed.
Check out the top below:
- 1. Ohio State $1,510,482,000
- 2. Texas $1,243,124,000
- 3. Oklahoma $1,001,967,000
- 4. Alabama $930,001,000
- 5. LSU $910,927,000
- 6. Michigan $892,951,000
- 7. Notre Dame $856,938,000
- 8. Georgia $822,310,000
- 9. Tennessee $745,640,000
- 10. Auburn $724,191,000
Check out the full report here.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.