Washington Huskies football makes another top 25 list – MONEY

Forbes Magazine released their “Top 25 College Football’s Most Valuable Teams” list. The University of Washington Huskies Football program is ranked.

Those who follow Washington Huskies football knows that the program is one of the best in the NCAA. Now it is quantified, financially. The University of Washington is one of Forbes Top 25 College Football’s Most Valuable Teams.

The Washington Huskies program was ranked as Forbes’ 19th Most Valuable college football team in terms of revenue. UW Football brought in an average of $84M from 2014 through the 2016-17 season. That is some serious coin.

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In case you were wondering, how Forbes got their numbers. The revenue amount was derived from areas like alumni donation, apparel sales, and royalties, such as the distribution of conference television deals with ESPN, Fox Sports, and the PAC-12 Network.

Top Money Machines

Overall Texas A&M is the revenue king, bringing in a whopping $148M annually. Their move to the SEC seems to have paid off nicely. A&M took over the top spot from their in-state rivals, the University of Texas. Don’t feel too bad for the Longhorns, they still brought in $133M.

The University of Michigan Wolverines and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide led all non-Texas schools with $127M in revenue. Rounding out the top 10 are Ohio State ($120M), Oklahoma ($119M), Notre Dame ($112M*), Auburn ($112M), LSU ($112M), and Florida ($110M).

The first PAC-12 school, the University of Oregon, doesn’t show up until number 12. Ducks revenue for the measuring period averaged $92M. A third PAC-12 school made the top 25. USC finished just ahead of the Huskies in 18th place, generating $87M.

Bringing Home the Benjamins

Revenue is one thing, but going to the bank with money is another. In that regard Washington checks in around 24th place, netting an average of $36M of profit each season. Cash streams will improve for Huskies in the future, due to their new apparel deal with Adidas, that starts with the 2020 season.

According to another Forbes article, the Huskies netted an average of approximately $2.1M per year with Nike. By switching to Adidas that amount rises to just under $8M per year.

Texas A&M also banks the most money at $107M of profit per season. Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame are next. Among PAC-12 schools Oregon, $54M, and USC, $47M take home the most profit.

There is a saying among college administrators that “athletics is the front porch of a university”. The numbers reported here are for the football program only. Who knows how much money was given to Washington’s General Scholarship Fund, or Library Fund, etc. because of the football program and the pride of the university’s alumni? That’s something that can’t be quantified, but it’s there.

*Notre Dame doesn’t include contributions from their ticket lottery, because most of it goes to the University.