Real and Barcelona top Forbes' rich list

Spain may have been embarrassingly dethroned as World Cup holder, but Real Madrid and Barcelona are still champions at making money after they were named the world's two richest sports franchises.

For the second successive year, Forbes business magazine tagged European champion Real Madrid, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays, as the No 1 sports team with a value of $3.44 billion.

Barcelona, the home of Lionel Messi, Neymar and now the notorious Luis Suarez, is second on the chart with a current value of $3.2 billion, while English giant Manchester United is ranked third at $2.81 billion despite a miserable domestic season.

The only other soccer club in the top 10 is German champion Bayern Munich, whose current value of $1.85 billion is good enough for seventh.

The rest of the top 10 is from Major League Baseball and the National Football League.

The New York Yankees are No 4, valued at $2.5 billion, with the Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.3 billion, holding fifth place.

With 30 teams in the top 50, for the second consecutive year, the NFL occupies 60 percent of this year's list.

The full list also included six teams from MLB and four from the NBA.

The NFL's prominent standing on the list and the potential sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft head Steve Ballmer for $2 billion shows the value of big market sports teams in the US is higher than ever.

Ballmer's proposed record purchase price for the Clippers is 15 times the revenue. By comparison, in March the Milwaukee Brewers were sold for five times the revenue.

The Clippers sale is currently hung up in the US court system. Forbes valued the team at $575 million in January before a tentative deal was announced.

Forbes said the stock market's bull run over the past five years, soaring TV rights and a limited number of teams for sale has contributed to skyrocketing values like the Clippers.

The average value of the top 50 teams is $1.34 billion, which is an 8 percent increase from last year, according to Forbes, which has been rating the world's leading sports clubs since 1998.

The New York Mets were one of three teams that dropped off this year's top-50 list - the other drop-offs included the Oakland Raiders in the NFL and McLaren in Formula 1.

Forbes top 10: 1. Real Madrid $3.44 billion, 2. Barcelona $3.2 billion, 3. Manchester United $2.81 billion, 4. New York Yankees $2.5 billion, 5. Dallas Cowboys $2.3 billion, 6. Los Angeles Dodgers $2.0 billion, 7. Bayern Munich $1.85 billion, 8. New England Patriots $1.8 billion, 9. Washington Redskins $1.7 billion, 10. New York Giants $1.55 billion.

(China Daily 07/18/2014 page24)