Yankees No.1 for Baseball & Business

According to Forbes, the average baseball team is now worth $744 million dollars, representing a massive 23 percent increase on last year. Television broadcasting fees are the primary reason for baseball’s immense wealth – new deals by Fox, ESPN and TBS are expected to bring in an average of $52 million each season through to 2021 for each of Major League Baseball’s teams.

The New York Yankees are ranked as baseball’s most valuable team for the 16th year running. Worth $2.3 billion, the New York outfit are in top place by a considerable distance. After Fox purchased a stake in Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network, the team will earn $85 million this year, a figure set to increase annually to a whopping $350 million by 2042.

Mark Walter, Todd Boehly, Bobby Patton, Magic Johnson and Peter Guber purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers last year for $2 billion. They are currently valued at $1.6 billion, placing them second on the list of baseball’s most valuable teams. The Boston Red Sox round off the top three, valued at $1.3 billion. The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies round off the top five, valued at $1 billion and $893 million respectively.