Forbes: College Basketball's Most Valuable Teams 2014

[lv99]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissm...teams-2014-louisville-cardinals-on-top-again/

The article mentions that North Carolina was once number 1, but now has fallen to 4 due in part to "changes associated with the ACC’s new TV deal".

 

[DarthGrumpy]

It will be interesting to see what happens to Louisville’s inflated number when the city of Louisville finally forces the Yum Center file for bankruptcy and then the Cards finally have to start covering the arena’s debt service and operating costs.

http://insiderlouisville.com/news/2...e-paid-to-cover-kfc-yum-center-bond-payments/

As for Forbes overall, Syracuse over Duke is questionable; but, the Carrier Dome does have a lot more seats. No idea how Ohio St., Illinois, and Wisconsin are all more ‘valuable’ than Michigan which has had historically more success than those 3. Tennessee over Florida, who is not even ranked? Xavier over everyone else in the new Big East plus other schools like UConn and UCLA?

 

[frankthetank]

No idea how Ohio St., Illinois, and Wisconsin are all more ‘valuable’ than Michigan which has had historically more success than those 3. Tennessee over Florida, who is not even ranked? Xavier over everyone else in the new Big East plus other schools like UConn and UCLA?

Fan bases, fan bases, fan bases. The Forbes criteria puts a larger premium on attendance and arena revenue. Ohio State, Illinois and Wisconsin have arenas with more revenue streams and less fairweather basketball fans than Michigan (who basically needs a top 10 team like it has now to draw sellouts). Same thing with Tennessee and Xavier in comparison to their peers. This has very little to do with on-the-court success - this is about how well these programs make money.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Fan bases, fan bases, fan bases. The Forbes criteria puts a larger premium on attendance and arena revenue. Ohio State, Illinois and Wisconsin have arenas with more revenue streams and less fairweather basketball fans than Michigan (who basically needs a top 10 team like it has now to draw sellouts). Same thing with Tennessee and Xavier in comparison to their peers. This has very little to do with on-the-court success - this is about how well these programs make money.

…and some created accounting in certain places like Louisville where the city got stuck with all of the debt service for a brand new arena while its primary tenant, the Louisville Cardinals, just count the cash coming in.

 

[frankthetank]

…and some created accounting in certain places like Louisville where the city got stuck with all of the debt service for a brand new arena while its primary tenant, the Louisville Cardinals, just count the cash coming in.

Just because Louisville got a sweetheart arena deal doesn't mean that it's creative accounting. The same types of sweetheart deals are incorporated into the valuations of dozens of pro sports teams - they are inherently a part of the valuations of those franchises. Even putting aside that, it isn't as if though Louisville has a half-full arena getting propped up by non-basketball revenue - they're selling out 22,000 seats every night. They were already at #1 or #2 in college basketball program valuations every year BEFORE the Yum! Center even opened because of how strong their fan base is, so they deserve credit where credit is due.

 

[Irishfan]

If you look at the Wall Street Journal's numbers for football program values, it appears that Kansas football is still significantly more valuable (6X) than Kansas basketball. I doubt they use the same numbers for valuation, but it shows why basketball pales in comparison to football in conference realignment.

 

[upstater]

If you look at the Wall Street Journal's numbers for football program values, it appears that Kansas football is still significantly more valuable (6X) than Kansas basketball. I doubt they use the same numbers for valuation, but it shows why basketball pales in comparison to football in conference realignment.

It all depends on how schools log revenues and expenditures into budgets. It's that simple. Forbes hasn't figured out how to compare apples to apples yet.

UConn had the most licensing revs of the former BE football schools, but it wasn't because UConn football was so popular--AND UConn has (should say HAD) a bigger budget than Kansas.