Joon Lee ESPN2:36 PM ET3 Minute Read
Oswaldo Cabrera crushes an HR to the left for the Yankees
Oswaldo Cabrera is waiting for a snag and sends his third home run of spring training over the wall.
Major League Baseball franchise values are rising, according to Forbes, despite the turmoil caused by Diamond Sports’ recent bankruptcy filing and the ongoing disintegration of the regional sports network model that could rock baseball’s broadcasting for this season and beyond.
The New York Yankees topped Forbes’ list released Thursday as baseball’s most valuable team with $7.1 billion, an 18% increase from 2022.
The Yankees are followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers with $4.8 billion (up 18%), the Boston Red Sox with $4.5 billion (up 15%), the Chicago Cubs with $4.1 billion (up 8%) and the San Francisco Giants up $3.7 billion (up 6%).
Overall, MLB average team value rose 12% last year to $2.32 billion, with revenue rising 7.8% to $10.3 billion. Most of that money came from a 64% increase in gate receipts, including postseason and spring training.
As the most valuable team in baseball, the Yankees made $143 million in cable money in 2022 from games televised on the YES Network, the nation’s most profitable and most-watched regional sports network. Collectively, MLB’s 30 teams made about $2.3 billion in local television revenue in 2022, which is 22% of their total earnings before debt service.
In contrast to the MLB, the NHL made $838 million on local television, 14% of its total revenue, while the NBA made $1.31 billion, or 13% of its revenue. The NFL splits media revenue evenly among teams.
The demise of local television has hit teams in smaller markets like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres harder. All teams except the Rockies and Padres — whose ratings have risen due to higher stadium revenue from tickets, suites and advertising — have not seen rating increases due to the risk of local TV fee cuts.
The last MLB team to be sold was the New York Mets, bought by hedge fund manager Steve Cohen in November 2020 for a record $2.42 billion. The Mets were ranked the sixth most valuable team by Forbes at $2.9 billion.
The Lerner family, who own the Washington Nationals, announced last April that they were looking into selling the franchise, which Forbes valued at $2 billion.
Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno said last August that he was also considering selling the franchise, but recently had a change of heart when he announced two months ago that his franchise — rated 2.7 by Forbes Billion dollars valued, just behind the Mets – no longer exists for sale.