Sports franchises aren’t immune to the recession.
Via a new report from Forbes, it’s revealed that eight teams in the NFL have declined in value over the last year, as ad credit markets weakened the pool of buyers and investors, the magazine said.
While overall team revenues rose seven percent over the last year–because of guaranteed TV contracts that paid out $4 billion–the average team value for the 32 teams was unchanged from last year at $1.04 billion. Last year, values rose 8.7 percent.
According to the mag, the NFL is the most popular among U.S. sports leagues, with strong television ratings and annual league revenue topping $7 billion, despite ratings falling over the last decade.
The eight teams with lower values were the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons and Oakland Raiders. The biggest values drops came from Oakland (down seven percent), Detroit (off six percent) and Indianapolis (off fivepercent), while Oakland also had the lowest valued team at $797 million.
The Dallas Cowboys remained at the top of the list, worth $1.65 billion, up 2% from a year ago. The team is said to have leased most of their stadium’s 300 luxury suites for an average $275,000 a year. Revenue from the new stadium, net of debt service and operating costs, will be about $285 million in 2009, more than double last year (last year’s valuation of the Cowboys partly accounted for the new stadium). Once the remainder of seats, suites and sponsorships are sold the franchise will be worth in the neighborhood of $2 billion.
Below are the teams, ranked by value:
1 – Dallas Cowboys – $1.7 billion
2 – Washington Redskins – $1.6 billion
3 – New England Patriots – $1.4 billion
4 – New York Giants – $1.2 billion
5 – New York Jets – $1.2 billion
6 – Houston Texans – $1.2 billion
7 – Philadelphia Eagles – $1.1 billion
8 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.1 billion
9 – Chicago Bears – $1.1 billion
10 – Denver Broncos – $1.1 billion
11 – Baltimore Ravens – $1.1 billion
12 – Carolina Panthers – $1 billion
13 – Cleveland Browns – $1 billion
14 – Kansas City Chiefs – $1 billion
15 – Indianapolis Colts – $1 billion
16 – Pittsburgh Steelers – $1 billion
17 – Green Bay Packers – $1 billion
18 – Miami Dolphins – $1 billion
19 – Tennessee Titans – $1 billion
20 – Seattle Seahawks – $994 million
21 – Cincinnati Bengals – $953 million
22 – New Orleans Saints – $942 million
23 – Arizona Cardinals – $935 million
24 – San Diego Chargers – $917 million
25 – St Louis Rams – $913 million
26 – Buffalo Bills – $909 million
27 – San Francisco 49ers – $875 million
28 – Detroit Lions – $872 million
29 – Jacksonville Jaguars – $866 million
30 – Atlanta Falcons – $856 million
31 – Minnesota Vikings – $835 million
32 – Oakland Raiders – $797 million
Forbes’ team valuations are based on estimated team revenue, operating income and debt. And the figures are based on 2008.
