Texas, Ohio State Among Top CFB Team Valuations, Miami and Indiana Rankings Revealed in Full List

The college football team with the highest valuation was absent from the College Football Playoff this season.

Per Indiana University Columbus professor Ryan Brewer (via the Wall Street Journal's Andrew Beaton), Texas has the highest valuation at $2.2 billion. Here's a look at some of the teams with the highest valuations.

1. Texas, $2.2 billion
2. Texas A&M, $1.6 billion
3. Ohio State, $1.5 billion
4. LSU, $1.5 billion
5. Georgia, $1.5 billion

The two teams playing in Monday night's title game, Miami (21st, $806 million) and Indiana (28th, $648 million), were a little bit lower on the list. Brewer noted, however, that Indiana's valuation has jumped nearly 68 percent since last year.

According to Beaton, Brewer—an associate professor of finance at Indiana—calculates each team's valuation by examining "industry trends, cash flows, revenue and broader economic shifts to calculate what every team would be worth if it could be bought and sold on the open market—just like a professional sports franchise."

"There's more value in college football than there's ever been," Brewer said. "Even though they're paying players and it's more expensive, it's also worth more."

The importance of a team's valuation can't be understated in today's college football landscape, especially after a landmark case over the summer allowed Division I schools to directly pay student-athletes.

It's no surprise to see a school like Texas at the top of the list, considering they have Arch Manning, who has the highest NIL valuation in all of college sports at $5.3 million, according to On3. Not only that, but the Longhorns are routinely among the top revenue generators in the nation.

Interestingly, the two teams that will compete for a championship on Monday, Indiana and Miami, weren't among the top schools in terms of valuation. In fact, none of the teams that reached the CFP semifinal—Indiana, Miami, Oregon and Ole Miss—were inside the top 17.

While a team's valuation is certainly one indicator of how successful a program is, it certainly doesn't always translate to success on the field.