Richest College Football Teams

College football is about more than passionate alumni and raucous Saturday afternoons back on campus: It’s a big business, too.

Several college stadiums — Michigan and Tennessee spring to mind — now can accomodate more than 100,000 fans on game day. Alums pony up increasingly larger donations for the privilege of purchasing season tickets or gaining access to luxury suites and private clubs.

Noting this phenomenon, the folks at Forbes set out to identify the “Most Valuable College Football Teams.” Obviously, the team can’t be sold — not in the literal sense, at least — but your Irish, Longhorns, Wolverines and more clearly have more name brand value than most of their counterparts.

Programs were compared in terms of their contributions in four key areas: University, athletics department, conference, and local community. Not surprisingly, a whopping six of the Top 10 hail from the football-crazed Southeastern Conference.

Who’s the richest of the rich?

Here are the Top 10, with value and profit:

1. Notre Dame: $101 million ($45.8 million)

2. Texas: $92 million ($46.2 million)

3. Georgia: $90 million ($43.5 million)

4. Michigan: $85 million ($36.2 million)

5. Florida: $84 million ($38.2 million)

6. LSU: $76 million ($31.7 million)

7. Tennessee: $74 million ($17.3 million)

8. Auburn: $73 million ($33.9 million)

9. Alabama: $72 million ($31.8 million)

10. Ohio State: $71 million ($26.6 million)

Ready to see who else is raking in the big bucks? Check out the rest of the list at Forbes.