Prices are reaching record levels across a group of teams worth a combined $353 billion. A well-known sports brand once again takes the top spot in the ranking with a value of 13 billion dollars.
Six years ago, the most valuable sports team in the world was worth five billion dollars. Today, that number would not even be enough to enter the top 50.
Dallas Cowboys they are still number 1, as they have been every year since 2016. Today it is valued at a stratospheric $13 billion. There is no shortage of data illustrating the spectacular growth in the value of sports teams in recent years.
Together, The 50 most valuable teams are worth more than $353 billionor an average of $7.1 billion per team. That’s a 22 percent increase from 2024, and more than double from just four years ago.
Eight franchises among the top 50 recorded year-on-year growth of at least 30 percent, and in that number Ferrari and Mercedes from Formula 1 are not included. Their value has risen 58 percent since 2023, but Forbes didn’t rate them last year.
Photo: X
Who’s on top
At the top of the list, a year after the Cowboys started the “10 billion dollar club”, four new members appeared. They are Golden State Warriorsvalued at $11 billion, then Los Angeles Rams (10.5 billion), New York Giants (10.1 billion) i Los Angeles Lakers (10 billion). New York Knicks is the sixth most valuable team in the world with 9.75 billion dollars, writes Forbes BiH.
In general, the skyrocketing value of sports teams over the past two decades is the result of a sharp increase in media rights revenue. So, for example, the NBA last year signed 11-year broadcast deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Pikoka and Amazon Prime Video, worth an alleged $76 billion.
This amounts to an average of $6.9 billion per year, which is about $4 billion more than under the old contracts. A year earlier, the NFL agreed to a package that guarantees at least $125.5 billion through 2033.
The NFL and NBA are leading the race
With a larger distribution of money from the leagues, and additional revenue from sponsorships and premium seats, the NBA and NFL franchises saw average revenue growth of 141 and 141 respectively. 91 percent over the last decadeat an estimated 417 million and 662 million dollars. Since sports teams are generally valued through revenue multipliers, the extra money directly raises sales prices.
At the same time, the values of sports teams are not always based solely on economics. Each subsequent sale of a club often becomes a benchmark for the entire league.
In perhaps the most obvious example, a billionaire Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 for two billion dollars, after a scandal involving the then owner Donald Sterling. A year earlier, Forbes estimated the Clippers at $575 million, while the average value of an NBA team was $634 million, or about 4.2 times the revenue from the previous season.
Already a year after that transaction, the average Forbes estimate jumped to $1.2 billionwith a revenue multiplier of 7.2. Today, these indicators are 5.4 billion dollars and 12.9 times.
It’s hard to imagine another team acquisition having such an impact. But sales of majority stakes this year in the Lakers and Boston Celtics, as well as minority deals involving the Giants and the Mercedes Formula 1 team, are already raising valuations.
European football clubs
Although values across the sports world are steadily increasing, some leagues and teams benefit far more than others. While the value of the 32 NFL franchises increased by 25 percent this year, the 20 most valuable European soccer clubs increased their value by just 5 percent. They are faced with problems like stagnation of income from TV rights, rising costs and large debt.
Over the past three years, since fans returned to stadiums and arenas after the pandemic, the NBA leads the way with an average team value higher than 87 percent. MLB and European soccer are almost tied with growth of 25 and 24 percent.
Because of this difference, soccer now accounts for only four of the 50 most valuable teams in the world – two clubs from the Spanish La Liga and two from the English Premier League. That’s down from seven clubs in each of the previous two years. Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain dropped from the list.
Photo: Real Madrid
MLB was also reduced to only two representativesafter the Boston Red Sox dropped out of the Top 50. Hockey’s NHL league, where the Toronto Maple Leafs lead with $4.4 billion, and MLS, where LAFC is in first place with $1.25 billion, failed to make the list this year.
There were no women’s sports franchises eitherwhere the most valuable club this year was the New York Liberty of the WNBA, with a value of 400 million dollars.
The return of Formula 1
Meanwhile, Formula 1 returns to the list after a one-year hiatus. Ferrari and Mercedeseach valued at at least six billion dollars, are once again among the 50 most valuable. The NBA has as many as 12 teams on the list for the second year in a row, with the Miami Heat replacing the Dallas Mavericks.
Still, no league can match the NFL, which has 30 of its 32 teams in the top 50. The only exceptions are New Orleans Saints with 5.3 billion dollars and Cincinnati Bengals with 5.25 billion.
If it is American professional football is the financial locomotive of the sportthen the Cowboys are her drive. Last season, their revenue exceeded $1.2 billion.
The closest rival is Real Madrid from La Liga. It is the last club that was ahead of the Cowboys on the value list, 10 years ago, when Los Blancos were worth $3.26 billion and Dallas was worth $3.2 billion. Today, Real Madrid is valued at $6.75 billion – just over half the value of the Cowboys.
Given the direction in which team prices are headed, 2015 seems like a distant past today.
(www.jabuka.tv)
