Forbes Magazine is the king...of lists relating to money, that is. A few weeks ago they published their latest rankings on the values of football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer teams. I don't know how I stumbled across this at work today, but I found it very interesting. I found it so interesting that I took each sport (they are published separately) and rolled them into one list for the entire world. So here are the rankings and an explanation of each category:
Current Value ($ in Millions)
1 - Manchester United (England) - $1,800
2 - Dallas Cowboys - $1,500
3 - Washington Redskins - $1,467
4 - New York Yankees - $1,306
5 - Real Madrid (Spain) - $1,285
(Liverpool #10, $1,050 - Tottenham #68, $414)
I am not surprised that United are the world's most valued club. What I find interesting, however, is that these numbers are based on the club's current stadium deal. Essentially, the value of a club is based on its ability to produce revenue in the form of ticket sales, luxury suite boxes, etc. Interesting.
Debt/Value (%)
1 - Liverpool (England) - 131%
2 - New Jersey Devils - 128%
3 - New York Mets - 97%
4 - AS Roma (Italy) - 94%
5 - Los Angeles Kings - 91%
(Tottenham #12 - 70%)
An England team tops this list as well, but unfortunately for Liverpool it's not a title you want to hold. Liverpool are officially the highest leveraged, or most in debt compared to value of any other club in the world. Liverpool owe 31% more money then they are worth. This is a scary thought - which, in my opinion, is why their fans are passionately opposed to the current American ownership and why Liverpool will probably be sold in the very near future. Their current owners just don't have enough cash to keep it all going so they have done it through the use of debt.
Revenues ($ in Millions)
1 - Real Madrid (Spain) - $474
2 - Manchester United (England) - $394
3 - Barcelona (Spain) - $392
4 - Chelsea (England) - $382
5 - Arsenal (England) - $329
(Liverpool #10, $269 - Tottenham #23, $207)
When it comes to generating revenue, soccer wins in a landslide. The New York Yankees just barely missed the cut for 5th, but these soccer clubs are money making machines.
Operating Income ($ in Millions)
1 - Real Madrid (Spain) - $112
2 - Manchester United (England) - $111
3 - Barcelona (Spain) - $92
4 - Arsenal (England) - $77
5 - Bayern Munich (Germany) - $72
(Tottenham #7, $64 - Liverpool #8, $60)
When all is said and done, in business terms, this is the most important category. Operating income is essentially a measure of profitability (to simplify things). It's essentially the difference between revenues and expenses. Soccer again dominates this category, with the Washington Redskins just missing the cut. In terms of net income, Real Madrid and United are the clear winner and runner-up.
Total Ranking
1 - Bayern Munich (Germany) - 60
2 - AC Milan (Italy) - 61
3 - Washington Redskins - 62
4 - Manchester United (England) - 69
5 - Real Madrid (Spain) - 72
(Liverpool #34, 174 - Tottenham #52, 235)
I created this category from the previous 4 categories. Basically, I summed up the rankings of all the categories for each club to see who, overall, had the lowest combined score (highest ranking) in the world. Again, soccer dominates the top list. According to these figures, relatively speaking, Bayern Munich is the overall winner considering all categories. I was shocked that the Washington Redskins were 3rd in the world and barely missed 1st place.
Although the NFL is the richest league overall, the majority of top clubs are from Europe and play soccer.