Football games between Utah and BYU were close the last three times they met, with the Cougars narrowly winning each.
And when it comes to the value of the two rivals’ sports programs, the Cougars also own a slight edge over the Utes.
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CNBC released its 2025 valuations of the top 75 college athletic programs in the country Friday. The University of Utah and Brigham Young University were the only schools in the Beehive State to make the list.
BYU ranked 57th, with a valuation of $500 million, up 40% from the previous year. Revenues totaled $130 million, 23% over the year before, per CNBC.
BYU safety Tanner Wall (28) intercepts a pass over Utah running back Daniel Bray (13) as BYU and Utah play at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Utah checked in three spots later at 60th, with a valuation of $451 million, down 4% from the previous year. Revenues totaled $110 million, a 13% drop year over year, per CNBC.
CNBC noted that the University of Utah announced it will be the first school in the country to accept private equity money. Otro Capital will reportedly invest $500 million in the athletic program, but university administrators would not confirm a number. Still, the investment could substantially elevate Utah’s valuation in coming years.
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At 39th with a $620 million valuation, the University of Kansas was the highest ranked in the Big 12, the conference to which Utah and BYU belong. All 16 schools in the conference made the list.
Utah, BYU and their fellow Big 12 schools are nowhere close to the most valuable in the country.
What school has the most valuable athletic program?
The University of Texas topped CNBC’s 2025 valuation rankings, supplanting Ohio State University.
Texas’ athletic program is now worth $1.48 billion, 16% more than last year. In fiscal 2024, it generated aggregate revenue of $332 million, more than any other school and 23% more than in the previous year, according to figures from the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University, per CNBC. Donors were the biggest source of revenue totaling $137 million, 53% more than in 2023, according to the database.
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Ohio State came in with a value of $1.35 billion, 2% more than a year ago. The program’s revenue fell 9%, to $255 million, in fiscal 2024 due to a 20% decrease in ticket revenue, according to the Knight-Newhouse database. The drop occurred primarily because the school had two fewer home football games during the 2023-24 season than it did in 2022-23, an Ohio State spokesperson told CNBC.
Rounding out the top five are:
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Texas A&M University, $1.32 billion
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University of Georgia, $1.16 billion
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University of Michigan, $1.16 billion
In all, 13 schools crested the billion-dollar mark.
Billions upon billions
The 75 programs on CNBC’s 2025 list have a combined worth of $51.22 billion, 13% higher than the value of the top 75 in last year’s rankings. This year’s combined programs had aggregate revenue of $11.84 billion in fiscal 2024, 8% more than 2024’s programs posted the previous year, CNBC reported, citing the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis and the Knight-Newhouse database.
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Escalating media rights deals for football and basketball in large part are driving up the value of college athletic programs, CNBC reported, citing the Big 12 as an example.
The conference started a six-year television extension of its media rights agreements with Fox and ESPN this season that will pay the conference an average of $380 million a year, nearly double what it got from its previous media rights deal, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Beginning in 2026, ESPN will pay an average of $1.3 billion a year for the College Football Playoff, more than twice its previous deal, according to JP Morgan.
“College football is at the apex, right below the NFL, and will eventually go to a 16-team playoff (from 12), because that’s where the money is,” Patrick Crakes, principal of Crakes Media, a media rights and distribution advisory firm that works with media companies, sports teams and leagues, told CNBC.
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How CNBC calculates the valuation
The rankings are limited to the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS schools, and excludes military academies.
The revenue figures were obtained from the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis and the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database for fiscal year 2024.
CNBC consulted AthleticDirectorU, which has an expansive database of college athletic program financials and information, to compile the valuations.
AthleticDirectorU’s publisher, Jason Belzer, has advised universities on NIL and private equity deals, according to CNBC. Belzer is a venture partner for Sequence Equity, a private-capital firm that has pitched a plan to make the playoffs of the NCAA’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS, a separate entity outside the purview of the NCAA.
