text/Kurt Badenhausen
Sports fans are trapped at home, the season reopens seems to have little hope, and the sports team's revenue plummeted. The professional sports world looks bleak. Surprisingly, the world's largest sports team has a valuation of more than last year's level.
If you are curious about how much the world's largest sports team has been affected by the impact of the epidemic, you might as well take a look at the New York Metropolitan Baseball Team held by Fred Wilpon. The New York Mets are the second highest-valued team in the Major League Baseball. Wilpon decided to sell the New York Mets after nearly 20 years of holding. If someone takes over, the New York Metropolis is expected to become the first super high-value sold team in the Major League Baseball in eight years.
However, the New York Metropolis is not a rare treasure. Wilpon was unwilling to raise players' salaries according to the league's salary level, and never won the World Series championship since 1986. As the epidemic hit, most of the seasons were reimbursed and the stadium revenue evaporated. However, before that, the team had run out of funds.
Even so, buyers still flocked to him, including hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, private equity tycoon Josh Harris, etc. Perhaps, some of them are willing to spend more than $2 billion to buy the New York Mets. There are 57 sports teams in the world that are worth this number. Ten years ago, a team almost changed hands - Manchester United. In 2010, it was worth US$1.83 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world.
Today, Dallas Cowboys is the world's most valuable sports team, and has dominated Forbes' most valuable sports team list for five consecutive years, with a valuation of US$5.5 billion. New York Yankees ranked second with a valuation of $5 billion. For the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the Yankees owner Steinbrenner family, these figures are nothing more than book revenue. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the top 35 in the list, have changed owners in the past 10 years. This also indirectly shows that the New York Mets (valued at 2.4 billion, ranking 41 on the list) suddenly became a hot commodity.
GSP Group has traded Chicago Bears , Golden State Warriors , Philadelphia 76ers and other sports teams. Group founder Sal Galatioto said: "At present, there are many billionaires who want to get involved in the sports industry." "People are willing to pay a lot of money. What they buy is not just numbers, but brand value."
NFL Rugby League has the highest value, with 27 teams on the list this year, which not only reflects the number of viewers of rugby games, but also reflects the popularity of TV broadcasts. Even though NBA has increased its value by almost 5 times in the past 10 years, it is beyond the reach. Of the 100 most popular broadcasts in 2019, 88 of them were sports events. Among them, 73 games are NFL games. According to Lee Berke of sports news consulting firm LHB Sports, the NFL television rights are worth an average of $6.5 billion per year, and the value of the new agreement in the works may double. In order to raise enough funds, Fox withdraws from the agreement to broadcast the U.S. Golf Open, and the funds left behind will be used to sign a $2 billion NFL TV broadcast agreement for a year.
The second place is in the NBA, with a total of 9 teams on the list. Three NBA teams in the top five are: the New York Knicks ($4.6 billion), the Los Angeles Lakers ($4.4 billion), and the Golden State Warriors ($4.3 billion). Last year, Alibaba Group's billionaire Cai Chongxin acquired the operating rights of Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center for US$3.3 billion, helping Brooklyn Nets to enter the list. This year, the three major European football teams have won the top ten positions, and Real Madrid leads with a valuation of US$4.2 billion. No team in the NHL Hockey League is on the list. This is not surprising. After all, the team at the bottom of the league has almost become a "hot potato" and has changed hands several times. In 15 years, the Arizona Coyotes replaced five owners.
No sports teams of all sizes are spared from the impact. Compared to the price of absolute controlling stake, limited partners can receive at least 20% discount on purchases of major league teams. Partners may plan to sell equity financing to assist other businesses affected by the epidemic, and equity may be further under pressure. The minor league teams were on the brink of bankruptcy, and Vince McMahon's XFL startup ended up bankrupt after a suspension in March.
The anti-epidemic measures are not good news for everyone in the team.However, the controlling shareholder of the big team will not change much. In 2018, the Dallas Cowboys' revenue reached $420 million, which is a good record for a sports team, while the league's average revenue was $102 million. Therefore, the average ownership duration is 40 years, with only one team changing owners over the past five years. The suppressed demand is far from being met.
Galatioto learned that at least 6 billionaires are interested in acquiring the NFL team, saying: "The situation of scarcity and preciousness will last for at least 30 years."
2020 World's Most Valuable Sports Team TOP5
Listing Method
The team values listed below are based on the valuations announced by Forbes in the past 14 months (Mike Ozanian and Christina Settimi also contributed to the production of this list). Team value reflects corporate value (equity plus debt). No teams in the NHL Hockey League, NASCAR, MLS Football League, and Formula One racing are in the top 50. Except for NBA, NFL, MLB, and European football teams, the most valuable team is the New York Rangers. The team is worth $1.65 billion, ranking 70th.
translation: Young
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