The NBA’s Most Valuable Teams
The average NBA team is now worth $369 million, 1% more than last year. But several of the league’s 30 teams have not fully recovered from the recession, and as a result values are still 2.6% below the $379 million peak average they hit two years ago.
No player in the 64-year history of the National Basketball Association has come close to having the immediate and profound impact that LeBron James had when he bolted the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat this summer. The King’s move accounted for both the biggest gain and drop in team values: the Heat’s worth increased 17%, to $425 million (seventh among the NBA’s 30 teams), and the Cavaliers plummeted 26%, to $355 million (15th).
The Heat sold out their season ticket inventory for the 2010-11 campaign after four straight years of attendance declines. Ticket prices are going up next year and ratings for Heat games on Sun Sports, the Fox-owned regional sports network, have doubled this season. Meanwhile, after winning more than 60 games each of the past two seasons, the Cavs won only eight of their first 45 games this year and owner Dan Gilbert recently announced that prices for Cavs games would be lowered next season.
The New York Knicks replace the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA’s most valuable team, worth $655 million, up 12% from last year. Signing Amar’e Stoudemire has been a big help both on the court and with sponsors. The Knicks sold out their full-season ticket inventory for the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Knicks’ parent company, Madison Square Garden, Inc., signed a sponsorship deal with JPMorgan Chase in September that’s worth at least $30 million a year over 10 years.
Full List: The NBA’s Most Valuable Team
Complete Coverage: The Business Of The NBA
Our valuations sometimes differ from the amount teams have recently sold for. Our estimations are based on the team’s current economics (unless ground has been broken for a new building) and do not include the value of real estate. For example, we value the Warriors, who negotiated a more lucrative cable deal soon after Peter Guber and Joe Lacob bought the team, at $363 million. One reason the new owners paid $450 million is their lease at the antiquated Oracle Arena expires in 2017 and the building is likely to be renovated, with the team getting a more lucrative lease or a new building entirely.
In June, Ted Leonsis purchased the 56% of the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center that he did not already own, plus the Baltimore-Washington D.C. Ticketmaster franchise, in a deal that put a value on the whole enterprise of $551 million. We value the Wizards at $322 million because we only include the revenue the team gets from the Verizon Center, not the value of the real estate itself.
The bad economy and a few suspect markets (Minnesota, Sacramento, Indiana among others) drained profitability during the 2009-10 season due to lower ticket receipts. Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell to an average of $6.1 million, 22% lower than the previous season and the lowest figure since the 2002-03 season. Worse, 17 teams lost money, the most since the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Several franchises like the Detroit Pistons and the New Orleans Hornets are on the market, but can’t find buyers at the right price.
However, if NBA commissioner David Stern gets his way, an imbecile would be able to make money running a team. Stern wants to lop $750 million off of player costs, lowering the portion of basketball-related revenue that goes to players from 57% to around 40%. If Stern succeeds, even teams like the Hornets, who were thought to be headed for bankruptcy before the NBA rescued the franchise, would immediately rise at least 30% in value because potential buyers would know they don’t run the risk of writing checks to cover operating losses.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
Members
Log in with your Forbes account
Haven't Registered Yet?
Create an account to join Forbes now
[...] success of the Knicks this season has risen them atop the Forbes Value Rankings. Click here to read the story. The New York Knicks have overtaken the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA’s [...]
[...] Forbes Tweet [...]
[...] “Forbes Magazine” on Wednesday announced their rankings of the most valuable franchises in the Association and this year there is a new team on the top of the list. The magazine has listed the New York Knicks as the NBA team that is worth the most as they have evaluated the franchise to be worth $655 million at the present time. That is quite a leap from the amount the magazine had the Knicks valued at last year when they said the team was worth $586 million. [...]
[...] Fuente Forbes [...]
[...] por Mike Ozanian sobre el valor económico y la salud financiera de las 30 franquicias NBA (http://blogs.forbes.com/mikeozanian/2011/01/26/the-nbas-most-valuable-teams-2/). Aquí van algunas de sus conclusiones más [...]
[...] Forbes released their annual list of the NBA’s most valuable teams on Wednesday, and according to the magazine, the Knicks have overtaken the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA’s most valuable franchise. [...]
[...] the Heat’s worth increased 17%, to $425 million (seventh among the NBA’s 30 teams), and the Cavaliers plummeted 26%, to $355 million (15th). — Forbes Tweet Like Share Read more: NBA, sportsbiz, [...]
[...] to Forbes’ annual ranking of NBA teams’ fortunes, the Knickerbockers are now the L’s most valuable team (overtaking the Lakers.) To the shock of precisely no one, LeBron James has been very good for [...]
[...] ~Mike Ozanian, Forbes [...]
[...] NEW YORK — The Knicks have overtaken the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA’s most valuable franchise, and 17 of the 30 teams are estimated to have lost money last season, according to Forbes. [...]
[...] FORBES.COM Share [...]
[...] New York Knicks secondo Forbes sono la squadra che ha più valore nella NBA, superati anche i Los Angeles Lakers. Questo è dovuto [...]
[...] to Forbes Magazine, the addition of Amar’e Stoudemire turned out to be more economically useful than another [...]
[...] The NBA’s Most Valuable & Least Valuable Teams [FORBES] [...]
[...] a year, Forbes takes a stab at determining the value of NBA teams, and this year, your Oklahoma City Thunder rank 18th out of 30, worth 329 million ForbesBucks (not [...]
[...] From yesterday, a good read on the NBA’s most valuable team, the Knicks, and NBA finances in [...]
[...] potential buyers would know they don’t run the risk of writing checks to cover operating losses. (Forbes [...]