The value of professional sports franchises has become increasingly exorbitant with the potential sale of the Lon Angeles Clippers
to ex-Microsoft head Steve Ballmer at an eye-popping price of $2
billion. The proposed purchase price for the Clippers is 15 times its
revenue, which is far greater than the previous NBA
record of five times revenue for the sales of Washington Wizards in
2010 and Milwaukee Bucks in March. The deal, which is currently hung up
in courts, has proved that the value of big market American sports teams
is higher than ever.
Although the
American sports properties have become immensely valuable, they can’t
match the elite European soccer clubs when it comes to global reach and
value. The three richest clubs in the world are soccer clubs, eclipsing
giant American franchises like the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys.
Manchester United, worth $3.6 billion, leads the way for yet another
year, just a bit ahead of Spain’s Real Madrid which is worth $3.44
billion. Fellow Spanish soccer power, Barcelona, rounds out the top
three with a worth of $3.2 billion.
Manchester United
may not have won the Premier League title, finishing seventh this
season, but it can lay claim to another title: the world’s richest sport
club. United sacked its manager David Moyes in April after just one
season. Moyes replaced the legendary Alex Ferguson, who led United for
nearly three decades before retiring. Despite all the troubles both on
and off the field, companies continue to flock to United. Just this
month, Adidas signed a 10-year $1.3 billion kit deal. General Motor’s
7-year $559 million shirt sponsorship deal kicks off next season. Wall
Street has also increased United’s enterprise value from $2.8 billion to
$3.6 billion in May.
Read Madrid
has made it to the Champions League semifinal for four consecutive
years and won the title this year, defeating Atletico Madrid 4-1 to take
home its record 10th Champions League title. Due to the win,
Real got a $78 million payout instead of the $62 million payout it
earned for its semifinal finish last season. Read Madrid has Cristiano Ronaldo,
the reigning player of the year and global icon, playing for it and
generates more revenue than any other sports team in the whole world. It
earns its commercial revenue through a $39 million-a-year shirt
sponsorship deal with Emirates and a kit deal with Adidas worth $41
million annually. Real is also planning to renovate its stadium Santiago
Bernabeu, which will cost $540 million and will be completed by 2017.
Barcelona, led by Lionel Messi, Neymar and now the notorious Luis Suarez, has won six La Liga
titles in the past decade. Like Real Madrid, Barcelona will also
renovate its Nou Camp stadium for $800 million, which will start in 2017
and is expected to be completed by 2021. The renovation will add a roof
and 5,000 additional seats, increasing the total seating capacity of
the stadium to 105,000.
The biggest
mover to the top 10 is yet another soccer club, Bayern Munich. It jumped
to No. 7 with a $1.85 billion worth after it won its 5th
Champions League title in 2013. Its record $308 million commercial
revenue is the second highest in the world, just behind Paris
Saint-Germain. It also has the richest kit deal ($38 million annually
with Adidas) and shirt sponsorship ($40 million a year with Deutsche
Telekom) in the German Bundesliga.
Although
soccer clubs dominate the top of the list, American football teams make
up the bulk of the top 50 list with 30 teams (only Jacksonville Jaguars
and Oakland Raiders didn’t make the cut). Dallas Cowboys is leading the
way, ranking 5th overall with a worth of $2.3 billion. Since
2007, the Cowboys have been the NFL’s most valuable team, largely due
to the league’s premium seating revenues and highest sponsorships – a
combined $220 million. It also has the highest operating income in
sports at $251 million for the 2012 season.
Social
media doesn’t exactly determine the actual popularity, but the
different between the top American teams and elite soccer clubs is vast.
Barcelona (69 million), Real Madrid (67 million) and Manchester United
(53 million) are the top sports teams to have the biggest fan following
on Facebook. In fact, the top 8 spots are all taken by soccer clubs. On
the other hand, the NFL’s 32 teams have a combined Facebook fan
following of 75 million, which is just barely more than Barcelona alone.
This could be due to the fact that NFL is mostly watched on a national
scale, while European clubs have worldwide fans.
The
20 non-NFL teams in the top 50 list consist of eight soccer, six
baseball and four basketball clubs. The basketball teams are led by the
New York Knicks at No. 13, with a worth of $1.4 billion. Completing the
top 50 list are the NHL’s most valuable team, the Toronto Maple Leafs,
at No. 26 with a valuation of $1.15 billion, and a Formula 1 franchise
(Ferrari ranking 21st with a worth of $1.2 billion). New additions to the list include Boston Celtics and St. Louis Rams, who are tied for the 45th position at $875 million, along with Manchester City which ranks 49th
at $863 million. Formula 1’s McLaren is one of the three teams that
were dropped from this year’s top 50 list; the other drop-offs include
the New York Mets and the Raiders.
The average team in the top 50 has a
valuation of $1.34 billion, which has increased by 8% from last year.
There were only 33 teams worth $1 billion last year; now there are 38.
There are now six teams in the list worth more than $2 billion as
compared to three years ago, when there were none. Four years ago, $586
million was the minimum requirement to enter the top 50, but now it is
$856 million (which is AC Milan’s valuation).
Below list is about to 10 most valuable clubs in the world according to forbes.com. in their list you can see Real Madrid is at number 1 but in their latest article they accepted Wall Street’s Ranking which Manchester United Mentioned as the Richest Sports Team in the World.
