WILLIAMS: Study shows ISU fan base is MVP

When it comes to economics, specifically within sports, I think that Jamie Pollard is an absolute genius. I haven’t been shy about writing that over the years either. What he has done in a decade at Iowa State with facilities and growing the overall Iowa State athletics brand is nothing short of legendary when you stack it up against the history of this fine institution.

However in order to do that job, Pollard has to have something to work with. 

You guys, the fans, are the realMVPs.

The days of 35 thousand of you showing up to a home game with the Big 12 North title on the line (the most embarrassing/pathetic/shameful … choose your own adjective … Iowa State moment of my lifetime) are behind us.

I found the following data that was released earlier this week to be very interesting…

Every year, the Wall Street Journal releases its “values” of college football programs if they were to be bought and sold on the open market like professional franchises are.

Specifically, a finance professor named Ryan Brewer at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus is in charge of the researched that is based on revenues, cash flow, risk assessment and growth projection to come up with these annual rankings.

Overall, the study found Iowa State to be the 42nd most lucrative college football program in America valued at $170.62 million based off of the criteria listed above. 

For what it’s worth, that is much higher than where I expected Iowa State to land. I would have guessed Iowa State to land in the 50-60 range. 

That data values the Iowa State football program ahead of schools like Missouri, TCU, Mississippi State, Baylor, North Carolina and Louisville to name a few. 

Think about that: The Iowa State football is worth more than TCU and Baylor (ranked 52nd and 60th) by a significant amount of money!

Iowa State’s facilities are worth more than they used to be. The Big 12’s television contract is much better. But the growth in value wouldn’t be the case if the fans hadn’t continued to support what has been a lackluster program for three years now.

Well done. Keep it up and hope for the best in 2016.