The Wall Street Journal's Darren Everson took a look at a recent study by Indiana University finance professor Ryan Brewer, who calculated the intrinsic value for 115 of the 120 programs in Division I-A (with apologies to Air Force, Navy, Tulane, Tulsa and Wake Forest). The results are hardly surprising.
We all know that there is a massive divide between programs from BCS automatic qualifying conferences and the rest of Division I-A, but Brewer's valuations illustrate an even wider gap among programs in BCS AQ conferences.
Of the 115 teams in the study, 89 of them -- Boston College included -- are worth less than $180 million. On the other end of the spectrum, 13 programs are worth over $400 million with 10 of those programs coming from either the SEC or the Big Ten.
In the ACC, Florida State was the most valuable college football program with a valuation of $267.0 million, good for 20th best nationally. Virginia Tech comes in second with a valuation of $212.9 million. In the 100 million ACC club are Clemson ($179.9, 27th), North Carolina ($126.6, 38), N.C. State ($122.2, 40), Miami ($121.7m, 41), and Georgia Tech ($108.2, 49).
Boston College ranks 9th in conference and 58th nationally with a valuation of $74.5 million, ahead of only Maryland ($63.5 million) and Duke ($48.4 million). ACC newcomers Pittsburgh ($61.9 million) and Syracuse ($53.8 million) ranked 64th and 66th nationally, respectively, ranking higher than only Duke in conference (and likely Wake Forest).
The study examines factors such as revenues and expenses, adjusting for cash-flow and risk factors, as well as a projection for future growth (which for BC could have been a negative coefficient).
If only it was as simple as raising $75 million dollars and taking ownership of the Boston College football program, we could make some real positive changes on the Heights.