Tennessee Football: Vols Have Most Valuable Program in SEC

The Tennessee football program was ranked in the top three nationally in terms of value according to Forbes. The Volunteers were ranked first in the SEC.

As the Tennessee Vols continue to improve under Butch Jones on the field, every factor off the field is improving as well.

Related Story: Top 10 Memorable Individual Bowl Performances by Vols

Tennessee was ranked as the third most valuable football program in the country, behind the Texas Longhorns and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, according to Forbes.

The Vols were valued at $121 million in their third year, behind Notre Dame at $127 million and Texas at $152 million.

They also jumped up from No.7 to No. 3.

What this shows beyond anything else is just how valuable and elite Tennessee is. Despite going 5-7, 7-6, and now 8-4, they have remained one of the top valued programs across the country.

Falling behind Texas and Notre Dame are not surprising, but there are plenty of other big schools, including Ohio State, Alabama, Florida State, Oklahoma, and LSU, Florida, and Michigan that are considered to be in the same class in terms of loud fans and had better teams this year.

But Tennessee was valued higher than all of them.

This is clearly a testament to the loyalty of Vols fans and the marketability of Tennessee football. The Vols were second only to Texas in terms of profit margin at 74 percent.

And they stood at the top of the pack among nine SEC teams that made the Top 20 in this list, including LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Florida, Texas A&M, and South Carolina.

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If they win their bowl game and go into next season with high expectations and then manage to live up to those expectations, imagine just how valuable they could be then.

It’s unlikely anybody surpasses Texas, but they could certainly pass Notre Dame, which would be impressive since the Irish have their own unique way of being a national brand.