Who says it pays to win?
Forbes Magazine has just released its annual list of the world’s most valuable sports team.
Turns out, it may not just be whether you win or lose, but where you play the game.
Want to run a successful sports franchise. Best to find a city with a lot of people who will go to your park or arena win or lose and then double up by buying all the clothes you can sell.
Another plus factor: broadcasters–especially the ones ready to elbow each other out of the way to pay for the rights to air your games.
Take the Toronto Maple Leafs, for example. Canadians know the stat: one playoff appearance since 2005.
Want another stat? How about number 26 on the Forbes List.
Another? Most valuable NHL team since….well, 2005.
Forbes valued the Leafs’ worth at $1.15 billion US–not bad for a perennial also-ran, and not too bad for the team’s owners, Bell Canada and Rogers Communications.
No other Canadian professional franchise made the list. Ditto for other NHL teams.
Something similar to Toronto, of course, takes place in Chicago every year, where the Cubs rival the Leafs in terms of futility. The Cubs ($1.2 billion) finished five places ahead of the Leafs on the list.
(An aside: there are many who believe the lack of success in Toronto and Chicago has a lot to do with the fact that people love their team no matter what. Why win, the observers note, when you do just fine by losing?)
European soccer franchises were at the top of the Forbes list with Real Madrid ($3.44 billion), Barcelona ($3.2 billion) and Manchester United ($2.81 billion) comprising the winning trifecta.
The New York Yankees ($2.5 billion) topped North American teams, at number four. The Yankees were followed by Dallas Cowboys ($2.3 billion).
AC Milan ($856 million) finished last–number 50–on the list.
But let’s face it. If you’re going to finish last on any list, this is the one to be on
Who owns AC Milan? None other than a man who really knows how to party
His name: Silvio Berlusconi.
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