In July, NBA star James Harden invested $15 million for a small stake of the Houston Dynamo, a deal that valued the club and its stadium at $425 million (the Forbes valuations listed below are only for the teams, excluding stadiums and real estate). MLS valuations are growing faster, too. Clubs put 30 percent of ticket proceeds into a pot, split revenue from national broadcast and sponsorship deals and draw a share of payments from Soccer United Marketing (SUM). And LAFC turned an estimated $8 million operating profit on a league- high $116 million in revenue last year. Limited partnership shares of sports teams have flooded the market, but there is a dearth of control stakes available right now, and RSL represents one of the only chances to run a team in the five biggest U.S. sports leagues for a billionaire who wants to join the sports team ownership ranks. I cover the intersection of sports, business and technology. The enthusiasm for 1994 was enough to get the league started and the league has now been going for 25, ears, and were expecting a similar step function, a similar step up in terms of fans, in terms of excitement for the sport, in terms of the value of the clubs, in terms of the media deal around 2026., Expecting the World Cup to transform the league to that degree is a massive assumption. This is going to continue, he said. Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Teams 2015 - Forbes Throughout its existence, MLS has been careful to proceed slowly and steadily. Thats changed completely in recent years, with owners realizing that transfer proceeds are something of an unbounded opportunity for revenue and Garber publicly promoting the idea of turning MLS into a selling league. Forbes Reveals MLS Teams Value 2019 - The18 . Although our valuation suggests Mansueto has already come out aheadbetween the two investment rounds, he secured full ownership at a total cost of $322 millionthe purchase is the latest example of MLS owners looking far to the future to justify todays exorbitant investments in the league. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Show sources information younger, more diverse fanbase is also representative of how the U.S. and Canada are changing on a broader level. Youre not paying for what exists today, but where the puck is going., He isnt the only billionaire thinking that way. The 2023 NFL draft is complete, all 259 selections made in Kansas City, Missouri, now official. Number of teams: 29 teams. Clubs big clubs occasionall, MLS clubs also share revenue. Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer and Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson are two powerful examples. Neither of those fees are even a third of the maximum Tepper could end up paying to bring Charlotte into the league. For now, the two leagues are feeling each other out. The Los Angeles rivalry between the Galaxy and LAFC may already be the most heated rivalry in MLS. And while most MLS teams lose money, theyre not really losing all that much relative to the financial situations of their owners. A whopping 22 of the 29 clubs that will be in the league by 2023 either play in or are currently constructing soccer-specific stadiums. They bought into the league a little more than a decade ago for expansion fees of $30 million and $35 million, respectively. Those extras help explain the lofty enterprise values of LAFC, which owns its stadium, and Orlando, which owns its stadium and has an NWSL team, the Orlando Pride. Those two clubs paid $70 million and $100 million, respectively, for their expansion slots. Surprisingly, that seemingly . MLS teams arent getting over leveraged, you dont have bankruptcy risk and things like that, said Carey. Grading Steelers' draft: Balance of value and need was 'A' winning For teams at the bottom of the spectrum, that SUM money can account for around 25 percent of annual operating revenue. In effect, SUM diversifies MLSs portfolio. Put simply, Major League Soccers surging expansion fees and sales prices are not being driven by financial performance. Valuations will continue to rise, but they probably wont rise as fast as they have in recent years. It wouldnt be enough to buy a team in the NFL, NBA or MLB and would only scrape the lower end of the NHL, but, as a multiple of annual revenue, MLS teams are trading at much higher values than teams even in the other North American leagues. FC Dallas owner Clark Hunt, who co-chairs the influential MLS product strategy committee and is considered one of the more influential owners in the league, said in that recent Financial Times panel that he thinks of the 2026 World Cup as a seminal moment in the history of the sport in the U.S., An owner of a different MLS club who spoke to. All published figures are Forbes estimates; team values do not include stadiums, real estate or debt. If anything, I think the valuations are excessively conservative.. The average MLS team is now worth $313 million, up 30% from last year. Forbes list of the most valuable MLB clubs - Wikipedia MLS Team Values Ranking List - Sportico.com The average percentage increase MLS saw in its teams Forbes valuations from 2018 to 2019 was nearly triple that of the NBA and NFL, and roughly four times the increases seen in MLB and the NHL in the same period. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. Its worth a lot of points in the figurative Rich People Olympics. Soccer in the United States is still in the growth stage, compared to many of the leagues both domestically and abroad, said Inner Circle Sports co-founder Steve Horowitz, who has been the investment banker on numerous MLS transactions. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/477837/team-value-of-mls-soccer-teams/, Most valuable Major League Soccer (MLS) teams in 2023, Immediate access to statistics, forecasts & reports, Forecast: revenue sports teams and clubs US 2008-2020, Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup winners 2021, Interest level in Major League Soccer in the U.S. 2022, by age, MLS level of interest in the U.S. 2022, by gender, Participants in team sports in the U.S. 2013-2021, Share of participants in regular kids' team sports in the U.S. 2020, Share of Canadian MLS fans in 2021, by team, Average attendance of major soccer leagues around the world 2021/22, Leading MLS clubs 2023, by average attendance, Total home attendance of Major League Soccer clubs in North America 2021, Leading MLS players 2022, by annual salary, Player expenses (payroll) of New York Red Bulls 2022, Player expenses (payroll) of New York City FC 2021, Player expenses (payroll) of D.C. 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In order to grow in the way it says it wants to, MLS simply must get significantly more money from broadcast rights. The average MLS team is worth $582 million, according to data compiled by Sportico. Similar to the, NWSLs attempts to build itself on the success of the U.S. womens national team. Theres little doubt that the tournament itself will generate huge interest, crowds and television audiences in the U.S. and Canada, but there are no guarantees that any of that will actually carry over to MLS. Nine years ago, the club joined the league for a mere $110 million expansion fee and was only worth $475 million in 2019. The capital contribution for expansion and the protection of the capital contribution is essential to what peaks values.. Mansueto has pledged to explore constructing a soccer-specific stadium and to build a training facility in Chicago. 3, $475 million). Theyre not going to strip themselves of that protection in favor of an open system. These teams, theyre like tech stocks.. So, what are you going to do with your money? Collectively, the fair-market value of the 27 current MLS franchises, including team-related businesses and real estate held by owners, is $14.9 billion. The future for MLS investors is predicated on how much soccer continues to grow in North America, with hopes pinned on a new annual tournament between MLS and Mexicos Liga MX kicking off in 2023. That convergence serves as the backbone for a general belief among Carey, Zimbalist and others spoken to for this story that theres a larger market available for MLS to capture than there is for leagues like the NHL and MLB. The new deal, youre probably only going to see incremental growth, said Carey. There are those who see that kind of conservatism as a serious problem for the value of MLS clubs. Not only is Atlanta profitablewe estimate the team earned $7 million on revenues of $78 million last seasonbut its blown away expectations, making the playoffs in each of its three MLS seasons and winning last years MLS Cup. Meanwhile, LAFC built a $350 million, 22,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in downtown L.A. and barnstormed soccer bars and held pep rallies to build interest. The NHL doesnt have wonderful growth prospects, said Zimbalist. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? Everythings a gamble, Rosenthal says. MLS and Liga MX have discussed a closer relationship, which could boost the value of media rights. Any of the above scenarios could end up coming true. Theres little doubt that the tournament itself will generate huge interest, crowds and television audiences in the U.S. and Canada, but there are no guarantees that an, y of that will actually carry over to MLS. Last year marked Major League Soccers 25th season, but it was no silver anniversary, as the coronavirus canceled one-third of the season, and games played in empty stadiums triggered a nearly $1 billion revenue shortfall for the league, according to MLS commissioner Don Garber. Unlike in most of the rest of the world, there is no risk of relegation in MLS no possibility of a few injuries derailing a season so badly that a club drops a division and takes a massive hit in revenue as a result. Fans of the sport of soccer skew younger and more diverse than American fans of other sports, too. Thats an impressive return, but not one Rosenthal was banking on. LAFC, on the other hand, only just completed their second MLS season but already rank among the league leaders in stadium naming rights and jersey sponsor revenues, reportedly worth annual payments of $6.7 million and nearly $6 million, respectively. But I think people love it. That figure tracks with the $4.3 million payment that The Athletic reported D.C. United received from SUM in 2016. Many NWSL teams are still finding their footing on the business side, but the Thorns are driving significant revenue from 11,000 season ticket holders and sponsorships, while TV ratings are also strong. Sportico values the team at $575 million, ninth overall, based on estimated gross annual team revenue of more than $60 million. That potential is the most important justification for the leagues growing valuations. You only have access to basic statistics. dollars)." Other players like Miguel Almiron and Jack Harrison have recently come to MLS from abroad or via the draft and then been transferred for large profits. The potential associated with owning high-value land in a desirable downtown location that could be turned into a larger, mixed-use stadium district is something that is appealing to investors, though few MLS teams have activated it. Theres going to be a lot of things you can watch on television, on your laptop, your phone, that can be commoditized, theres substitutes for. The possibility for a deeper relationship clearly exists, however, and is drawing the attention of the most powerful figures in the sport, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino telling reporters on March 19th that the potential of the U.S. and Mexico, each one separately, is enormous, but if they could come together, it would be incredible. In the past, FIFA has ruled against regional leagues, but the governing body has softened that stance a bit since Infantino took control in 2016. More than half the clubs lose money and, with average revenue at $55 million, MLS teams cant really compete against Europes soccer clubs for top players. Its not the sexiest projection, but it does sound reasonable. Fans of the sport of soccer skew younger and more diverse than American fans of other sports, too. Los Angeles FC ranks first at $860 million, while the Colorado Rapids rank last at $370 million. The three other North American mens pro leagues the NFL, NBA and MLB are in a different universe with their media rights deals, each earning more than a billion dollars per year from their national broadcast partners. In 2023, the most valuable team in the MLS was Los Angeles FC, being worth around one billion U.S. dollars. The U.S. Dollar reached a 20-year high from late April to late September last year, according to Forbes, placing the league in a strong position to negotiate with clubs worldwide. To be honest, Berg says, MLS wasnt really sexy yet. In 2016, they increased their stakes and became LAFCs comanaging owners along with Riot Games cofounder Brandon Beck, who had invested in 2015, each agreeing to rotate as the teams lead owner every four years. In late 2018, he paid $106 million for the Belden-Stratford apartment building. I think all the metrics around the league attendance, club values, media deals, theyre all upwardly sloping to the right, said Mansueto. Im pessimistic about the next media deal, said the owner. Theres a lot of absurdly rich people in the United States, said the owner.