Sports are as much a part of our lives as eating food or drinking water: the most popular sporting event in the U.S.--the Super Bowl--had a record 98.7 milllion people tune in last
Sunday; the NBA All-Star Game is next weekend; baseball spring training is just around the corner; and NASCAR is revving up this month (check out the Feb. cover story I wrote about NASCAR driver Marc Davis). In other words, it's a perfect time for a sports stat blog.
Sports are a lot more than just a ball, some tires, or a little entertainment--they're businesses driven by fans and raking in cold, hard cash. According to The Harris Poll, the U.S.'s five favorite sports in 2008 were: pro football (31%), baseball (16%), college football (12%), auto racing (8%), and men's pro basketball (6%).
The fan to cash correlation shook out like this:
- 2008 NFL revenue: $6.5 billion
- 2008 MLB revenue: $6.5 billion
- 2008 D-I College Footbal revenue: $2 billion
- 2008 U.S. motor sports sponsorship revenue: $3.5 billion
- 2008 NBA revenue: $3.8 billion
But it's not only sports leagues that are raking in serious cash. Here's the list of the 2008 top ten most valuable teams in sports, according to forbes.com:
1. Manchester United (English Premier League soccer): $1.8 billion
2. Dallas Cowboys (NFL): $1.6 billion
3. Washington Redskins (NFL): $1.5 billion
4. New England Patriots (NFL): $1.32 billion
5. New York Yankees (MLB): $1.3 billion
6. Real Madrid (Spanish La Liga soccer): $1.29 billion
7. Arsenal (English Premier League soccer): $1.2 billion
8. New York Giants (NFL): $1.18 billion
9. New York Jets (NFL): $1.17 billion
10. Houston Texans (NFL): $1.17 billion
Sports is big business, and though the weak economy is affecting the sports industry, sports are typically recession-proof because of their entertainment value. So don't worry about your favorite franchise closing up shop any time soon.
--Jens
The photo was taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Interesting numbers. I wonder if real estate and other things like infrastructure come into play with those numbers. Why would the redskins be worth so much if it wasn't for a stadium or something like that. I'm surprised that more European clubs aren't on this list as I thought futbol was huge $$$$ in Europe.
According to Forbes, "The Redskins have since been surpassed by the Dallas Cowboys, whose lucrative merchandising business and (starting next season) new stadium have pushed their value to $1.6 billion." Apparently real estate is factored in. By the way, here's Forbes' newest list of The Most Valuable Teams In Sports.
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