The recent $4 billion purchase of the Phoenix Suns by the Ishbia brothers and the $4.65 billion purchase of the Denver Broncos by Rob Walton and his group show that professional sports franchises are as valuable as multimillionaires and that people are willing to pay for them.
Each bid was much higher than the previous record for the sale of an NBA or NFL team, which shows how much the world’s wealthiest people want a small number of prestigious sports franchises.
The Suns Predicts the Greatest Growth in 2022
Even before the sale, the Suns’ pre-transaction Forbes valuation of $2.7 billion marked a 50% rise from 2021 and the most significant gain in the history of the NBA. A valuation of $4 billion for the Suns would be a 135% increase over Forbes’ prediction in October 2021.
If the agreement is finalized, the Suns will receive the highest rise of any professional sports club in 2022. Though it has improved significantly, other squads have done so in the last year. In 2022, 11 teams’ valuations climbed by over 40% in major professional sports leagues, where Forbes analyzes such things annually.
European soccer has seen the most extreme swings, with great teams falling into bankruptcy just as quickly as rising to new heights. After Elliott Management invested tens of millions of dollars into AC Milan and led the Italian club back to the Champions League and the top of Serie A last season, Forbes priced the Rossoneri at $1.2 billion in May, an increase of 115% from the $37 million in negative equity it carried in January 2018.
The League’s Average Brand Value Goes up by 28%
The average brand’s worth in the league rose by 28%, with four teams seeing gains of over 40%. Even though the government is paying for the team to move to a new $1.4 billion sports complex, the Buffalo Bills had the biggest percentage increase (50%) and the lowest ranking (#29) in the NFL.
There’s an average increase in franchise value throughout the NHL this year of 19%, pushing the average worth of an NHL team to above $1 billion for the first time. The fact that teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, which recently sold a piece of their ownership or are getting ready for a possible sale.
Even Major League Baseball teams, whose average value went up by only 9 percent, saw their highest growth in four years. The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers are two big teams that have gotten too much money from New Jersey patch partnerships and local sports network money.