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Subject: The Five Most Valuable College Athletic Programs Author: An Observer [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 14:08:26 12/19/24 Thu CNBC just unveiled their internal estimate of what individual college athletic programs are worth. I think CNBC is doing America a service by stripping away any last delusion about what big time college athletic programs are; they are for-profit entertainment businesses which happen to be owned by not-for-profit educational organizations. Those of us who follow college sports closely knew this, but this exercise makes it clear and puts a number on it. The top five athletic programs and their estimated values: Ohio State $1.32 billion Texas 1.28 Texas A&M 1.26 Michigan 1.06 Alabama 0.978 To be clear, the units above are in billions with a "b." In introducing the list, the CNBC analyst who compiled the estimates observed the race to pay players is accelerating so quickly that he expects private equity firms to buy equity stakes in the athletic departments to contribute financing. If he is correct, in a few years, "The Game" could match up Ohio State/Apollo Global Management versus Michigan/Blackstone. We'll have two separate and parallel levels of professional sports: the traditional professional leagues we know (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) plus another level privately financed and partially owned by private equity firms. Can't wait to see who Apollo decides to start and quarterback. I hear that Blackstone is thinking about changing from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: The Five Most Valuable College Athletic Programs Author: M3 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:52:28 12/19/24 Thu Of note none are subject to Federal or State tax as they are run by nonprofit entities [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: The Five Most Valuable College Athletic Programs Author: Lurker [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:15:52 12/19/24 Thu This should end but probably wont. Just as IL hedge funds, er endowments - with minimal distributions to non profit activities -are allowed to snowball unimpeded by those pesky taxes [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: "Those pesky taxes" are more pesky than you realize Author: sparman [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:58:43 12/19/24 Thu Beginning in 2018 Congress imposed a 1.4 percent excise tax on endowment income for private colleges with at least 500 students and at least $500,000 in endowment per student, a subset that intentionally targeted ivies and some others (read = "despicable elites we don't like"). The incoming VP, as a Senator, introduced a bill in 2023 to rise that rate to 35%. And the incoming President has said he wants to "take the billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments." https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/11/19/what-could-endowment-taxes-under-trump-mean-for-yale/ https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-the-american-academy [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: "Those pesky taxes" are more pesky than you realize Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 17:12:05 12/19/24 Thu The thresholds at which college endowments begin to accrue excise taxes were struck at levels which affect most of the Ivies, but not the University of Pennsylvania. If one were a Quaker sports fan, one could not design a more elegantly crafted tool to hamper one's rivals. In reading some policy proposals, I see that, next fall, the Quaker defense will be exempted from pass interference penalties. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: "Those pesky taxes" are more pesky than you realize Author: Scoop85 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 22:05:24 12/19/24 Thu Fine by me; they also need to tax religious institutions that rake in millions. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: The Five Most Valuable College Athletic Programs Author: observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 12:23:18 12/20/24 Fri The big surprise is how far USC has fallen. Now that they are in the B1G TEN, and given their history and size of their market... you would think just by merchandise royalties alone, they could gain much more. It goes to show how little relative standing private schools have in this business. Other than Notre Dame (which is shockingly not in the top 5) and its subway alumni, College Sports fanaticism exists as tribalism for those who lack professional sports outlets and affinity for their geographic residence. It's not for students and alumni (let alone faculty and staff). It's for the local community. The Ivy League used to welcome the communities outside their gates, but they don't even try to appeal to them anymore. the FCS playoffs is a last-ditch attempt to stay Division 1, not to stir local interest. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: The Five Most Valuable College Athletic Programs Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:28:01 12/20/24 Fri Notre Dame is #6 on the list. You would be correct that otherwise it's all state land grant universities at the top of the heirarchy. I'm surprised ND is not #1 for the simple reason that the most important driver of values is the associated television contract. The Irish of course are the only college with their own network, the Notre Dame Broadcasting Company. What you say about college sports fanaticism is very true for most of the big schools in the South. In many cases, they are the only game in town for hundreds of miles in any direction. Not as true for some of the Big Ten schools, several of which have professional franchises in their metro area. Few people feel sympathy for HYP and their $40-50 billion endowments. But taxing them and not other not-for-profit organizations is overtly politically motivated. Why tax Harvard but not the Mormon or Catholic churches? I am very confident that the pay-out ratio from Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment fund of the Mormon church, is lower than the 4.2-5.0% payout ratios at HYP. This is the federal government picking out not-for-profits that it doesn't like. And that's us, folks. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]