The 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams according to Forbes
Forbes' list of the 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams in the world
Forbes unveiled its list of the World’s 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams last night. No IPL (Indian Premier League) team made it. Surprise, surprise! Manchester United topped the billing at a valuation of US$2.23 billion followed by Real Madrid at $1.88 billion.
This is an excerpt from the Forbes article:
Manchester United fans will once again get a chance to own a piece of the iconic club as the Glazer family filed plans this month for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The Glazers took the club private in 2005 in a leveraged buyout worth $1.47 billion.
You can read the whole article here and view the photo gallery here.
All 32 of the USA's National Football League teams made it on the list. From the English Premier League, Arsenal, number 10 with $1.29 billion and Chelsea, number 47 with $761 million, made it to the list. Barcelona, number 9 with $1.31 billion clawed into the top 10. Silvio Berlusconi's AC Milan came in at number 27 with a valuation of $989 million. Guess all the bunga bunga parties didn't affect his money-making skills. For Indian readers, the other possible teams of interest would be Ferrari, number 15 at 1.1 billion, and McLaren, number 40 at $800 million.
The IPL's last valuation was at $2.92 billion according to Brand Finance India. Considering Pune Warriors ($370 million) said they overpaid by 30 percent for the franchise, I would say Mumbai Indians, possibly the richest franchise shouldn't be worth more than $300 million today. And that's a stretch.
This is the Top 10 list, with valuations and owners:
| 1 | Manchester United | Football | $2.23 billion | Glazer family |
| 2 | Real Madrid Club de Fútbol | Football | $1.88 billion | Club members |
| 3 | New York Yankees | Baseball | $1.85 billion | Steinbrenner family |
| 3 | Dallas Cowboys | American Football | $1.85 billion | Jerry Jones |
| 5 | Washington Redskins | American Football | $1.56 billion | Daniel Snyder |
| 6 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Baseball | $1.4 billion | Guggenheim Baseball |
| 6 | New England Patriots | American Football | $1.4 billion | Robert Kraft |
| 8 | FC Barcelona | Football | $1.31 billion | Club members |
| 9 | New York Giants | American Football | $1.3 billion | John Mara, Steven Tisch |
| 10 | Arsenal FC | Football | $1.29 billion | Stan Kroenke |