Twelve franchises gained at least $900 million in value this year, and 10 saw appreciation of at least 50%.
By Brett Knight and Justin Teitelbaum, Forbes Staff
The Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team worth at least $10 billion this year, crossing that historic milestone by gaining $1.1 billion from 2023. But two other franchises added even more in value: the Boston Celtics ($1.3 billion) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($1.2 billion).
In all, among the 171 teams that Forbes valued in both 2023 and 2024 from MLB, MLS, global soccer, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL, 155 are worth more year over year. Just 12, however, appreciated at least $900 million: four from basketball, four from football and four from hockey.
Naturally, most of these teams are in some of the country’s largest markets, which give franchises a leg up generating revenue in a number of areas—and they are pressing their advantage. The Los Angeles Kings, for instance, boosted luxury suite and club seating revenue by 31% last season to an estimated $115 million, or $41 million beyond hockey’s next-best team. The Golden State Warriors, meanwhile, made significant gains virtually across the board, not only in premium seating but also in general ticket sales, advertising and sponsorship, and non-NBA events held at their arena.
The ascendant teams are also getting a lift from their leagues’ booming business. The NFL’s new national media rights package kicked in last season, paying each of its teams roughly $380 million per year through 2033 on average, and the NBA will get a similar raise with its national television money next year—more than two and a half times what its current deals are worth. The NHL, meanwhile, has been drawing more money from sponsors at both the national and team levels.
The real explanation for the skyrocketing valuations, however, is less about the economics of any specific team and more about investors’ ravenous appetite to get into sports ownership. Recent transactions have reset the market, pushing up the multiples used to calculate team valuations, and the Boston Celtics—currently on the block after their run to an NBA championship in June—are expected to continue that upward trajectory whenever the team is sold.
On a percentage basis, 2024’s top-performing teams look a bit different, in large part because the NHL’s franchises averaged growth of 44% this year. In fact, 30 of the 31 fastest-growing teams came from hockey. MLS’s Inter Miami CF was the lone exception, with appreciation of 72% after the 2023 arrival of Lionel Messi turbocharged the club’s business.
Still, there were nine other teams—from the NFL and the NBA as well as MLS—whose values climbed at least 22% this year. (For comparison, the S&P 500 is up 26.6% in 2024 as stock prices surge.)
Major League Baseball and global soccer are lagging behind the other leagues. Soccer’s biggest increase in absolute terms this year was Manchester United of England’s Premier League (up $550 million, to $6.55 billion) while the top percentage growth from a non-MLS team was Arsenal’s 15%, to $2.6 billion. In baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers led the way with a $650 million increase (to $5.45 billion) along with the Philadelphia Phillies’ 14% (to $2.925 billion).
Even if those sports don’t quite measure up to the returns in the NHL or the NBA, however, they remain fine investments. Over the last decade, the most valuable teams from MLB and global soccer (including MLS) have seen average appreciation of 190% or better.
In the NHL, Utah Hockey Club rose an incredible 140% this year, to $1.2 billion. That was an unusual case, with most of the gain owing to the franchise’s relocation from the Phoenix area, where, as the Arizona Coyotes, the team had played in a 5,000-seat college arena for the last two seasons. But nine other NHL clubs also saw their values grow by 48.9% or better.
And the three hockey teams with the lowest appreciation would still rank among the top 45 franchises from all sports: the Montreal Canadiens (30%), the New York Islanders (23%) and the Ottawa Senators (21%).
METHODOLOGY
The 2024 appreciation rates were calculated from Forbes’ annual lists of the most valuable teams in each sport, which rank enterprise values (equity plus net debt). The valuations include the economics of a team’s stadium (including revenue from other events that accrues to the team’s owner) but not the value of the stadium real estate itself. Similarly, the values include rights fees from regional sports networks owned by the team but not the value of the RSNs themselves; equity stakes in other sports-related assets and mixed-use real estate projects are also excluded. (For appraisals that include all sports-related assets, see Forbes’ 2024 ranking of the most valuable sports empires.)
The valuations were based on revenue estimates for the most recent completed season at the time of publication: 2023 for MLB, MLS and the NFL; 2023-24 for the NBA and the NHL; and 2022-23 for non-MLS soccer leagues. All figures were converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rates during the season.
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