FC Barcelona is the fourth most valuable sports club in the world according to the prestigious North American magazine
Forbes,
specialised in the world of business and finance. The publication has
made its annual survey that analyses the economic worth of the biggest
sports clubs in the world and creates a list of the 50 most valuable
clubs. Barça are fourth on this list with a value of $3.64 billion,
which is a 2% increase on the previous year. This leaves the Catalan
club behind the NFL’s
Dallas Cowboys and the MLB’s
New York Yankees, with $4.2 billion and $3.7 billion respectively, and another football team,
Manchester United.
The English team has benefited from a new TV rights deal that has seen
it grow 11% from 2016 to reach $3.69 billion. The difference between
between Manchester United and Barça is only $50 million.
Forbes produces a list annualy and takes into account TV
rights, player contracts and costs among other parameters. This year,
the list features 29 teams from the
NFL, eight from the
MLB, seven from the
NBA,
and seven from European football. Manchester United is the third
biggest sports club in the world and the biggest football team. They are
followed by Barça in fourth and
Real Madrid in fifth,
who lost first place in 2016 to the Dallas Cowboys after having been top
for three years running. The next football club is Bayern Munich in
15th place, followed by Manchester City in 35th, Arsenal in 43rd, and
Chelsea in 46th.
The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys first place confirms that the American
football league is the most profitable in the world. Further evidence of
this is the fact that 29 of the 32 teams in the NFL are in Forbes’ top
50 ranking. In an international context, FC Barcelona are well ahead of
all the NBA sides, with their top team, the
New York Knicks,
coming in in seventh place. Moreover, they are only behind one MLB
club, the North-American baseball league’s historic franchise the New
York Yankees.
Forbes reported that the cut-off point to be a part of this
elite group of the most valuable clubs was higher than ever at $1.75
billion. There are 36 clubs who are worth over $1 billion and haven’t
made it into this exclusive group. The main reason for the growth of
sports club is due to TV rights deals, especially in the
Premier League and the NBA.
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List of the 20 most valuable clubs in the world:
1. Dallas Cowboys, $4.2 billion, 5% (NFL)
2. New York Yankees, $3.7 billion, 9% (MLB)
3. Manchester United, $3.69 billion, 11% (Soccer)
4. Barcelona, $3.64 billion, 2% (Soccer)
5. Real Madrid, $3.58 billion, -2% (Soccer)
6. New England Patriots, $3.4 billion, 6% (NFL)
7. New York Knicks, $3.3 billion, 10% (NBA)
8. New York Giants, $3.1 billion, 11% (NFL)
9. San Francisco 49ers, $3 billion, 11% (NFL)
9. Los Angeles Lakers, $3 billion, 11% (NBA)
11. Washington Redskins, $2.95 billion, 4% (NFL)
12. Los Angeles Rams, $2.9 billion, 100% (NFL)
13. New York Jets, $2.75 billion, 6% (NFL)
13. Los Angeles Dodgers, $2.75 billion, 10% (MLB)
15. Bayern Munich, $2.71 billion, 1% (Soccer)
16. Chicago Bears, $2.7 billion, 10% (NFL)
16. Boston Red Sox, $2.7 billion, 17% (MLB)
18. Chicago Cubs, $2.68 billion, 22% (MLB)
19. San Francisco Giants, $2.65 billion, 18% (MLB)
20. Houston Texans, $2.6 billion, 4% (NFL)
Vice President for Marketing and Communication Manel Arroyo’s statements:
“It is satisfying to be the fourth most valuable sports club in the
world and the second most valuable football team with the ownership
model we have. Barça belongs to its 140,000 members and we compete with
the biggest clubs, economic giants. Those in the North-American
professional sports leagues, the Permier League clubs who get more money
from TV rights, and the new investors and new fortunes that are
dominating the football world.”
“For this reason it is a big responsibility to manage a club and a
brand like FC Barcelona, which is becoming more and more global. We
invest not only in our football team but also in strategic areas that
reinforce the different way we do things, like education, knowledge,
social commitment and the Foundation. Moreover, we are the club with the
highest budgeted income in the world and we have the largest following
on our social media outlets with 285 million followers.”