For all of its coaching drama, the Texas Longhorns football team has a pretty solid business plan. The team came in at No. 1 on Forbes 2013 list of most valuable college football squads.
On the field, Texas went just 8-4, but behind the scenes, the team is worth $139 million, according to Forbes. The Longhorns took the top spot on the list for the fourth consecutive year, with the team’s value based on merchandise sales, a lucrative school-specific TV deal and revenue upwards of $100 million.
The biggest source of revenue for the Longhorns came from ticket sales ($34.5 million), followed by contributions ($30 million) and distributions by the Big 12 and the NCAA ($15 million).
Notre Dame in second on the list, valued at $117 million, in part because of a one-off game the team hosted at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The reigning National Champion Alabama football team rose from sixth to third on this year’s list, and many of the Crimson Tide’s SEC rivals also cracked the top-20 list.
