Forbes Announces The World’s Most Valuable Sports Teams – Forbes – Forbes

Real Madrid Retains the Top Spot for the Third Consecutive Year

NEW YORK (July 15, 2015) – Forbes released today its annual list of The World’s Most Valuable Sports Teams.  For the third consecutive year, Real Madrid retains the top spot as the most valuable sports franchise, worth $3.26 billion.  Forbes has been valuing teams in the major sports leagues since 1998. The average current value of a team team on the list is $1.75 billion, the highest to date, which is a 31% increase from last year. Cost of admission to the 2015 list is the highest ever at $1.15 billion, up from $856 million a year ago.

There are 51 teams on the list this year due to a 3-way tie between the Atlanta Braves, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Minnesota Vikings. All 3 teams are valued at $1.15 billion, landing them the final spots on the list. Major League Baseball, which had 6 teams on the 2014 list, doubled its presence in 2015, now occupying 12 spots on this year’s list. The National Basketball Association more than doubled its presence, by securing 10 NBA teams on the 2015 list, compared to having 4 teams on the list as it did last year. Despite 10 NFL teams dropping off the list this year, the NFL still occupies 20 spots, which is more than any other sport. The 31 non-NFL teams on the list include 12 from MLB, 7 from soccer, 10 from the NBA, one from the NHL and one from Formula 1.

Methodology: This list is based on the Forbes valuations done in the past year for the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, F1, soccer, and Nascar. Forbes’ team values are enterprise values (equity plus debt) based on current stadium deals (unless a new stadium is pending).

The World’s Top 10 Most Valuable Sports Teams of 2015 are:

PLUS:

–          The Most Popular Sports Teams On Social Media: Soccer clubs dominate the world’s most popular sports teams on social media.   9 of the 12 top sports teams on social media are soccer teams. Barcelona and Real Madrid, which have the largest followings, topped the list this year.

For the complete list and more, visit: www.forbes.com/most-valuable-teams

Contact:  Christina Vega at 212.206.5155 or cvega@forbes.com