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Competition doesn’t stop when players leave the field. The most valuable sports teams in North America hold their status not only because of the talent on their roster but also because of how they plan for success behind the scenes.
Comprehensive financial planning can be the difference between making it or breaking it in the competitive world of professional sports. Teams that can analyze the full swath of available data on their revenue streams like attendance, concessions, merchandise, parking, suites and sponsorships can then make smarter financial decisions and grow more in the long term.
In this article, we’ll dive into the top-valued sports teams in each major sport in North America. Then, we’ll get behind the “how” and “why” of profitability in professional sports by exploring the strategies and tools that can help sports teams maximize revenue.
(If you want to learn about the United Kingdom's richest soccer teams and how they plan for profitability, read this article instead).
For starters, the Dallas Cowboys are North America’s most valuable sports team. They’re more valuable than the top two NHL and MLS teams combined. That value includes local and national revenues as well as a per-team 3.13% stake in league properties (like the NFL Network).
Below, all teams appear with their most recent valuation based on all public records, plus interviews with organizational insiders and knowledgeable players in the operations of each league. We also included a year-over-year value comparison.
If available, we also noted team value and the value of team-affiliated business interests (like investments in minor league teams) and real estate holdings. This usually indicates that the team owns their stadium or arena.
1. Dallas Cowboys: $9.2 billion in 20231
2. New York Giants: $7.04 billion in 20231
1. Golden State Warriors: $7.56 billion in 20222
2. New York Knicks: $6.58 billion in 20222
1. New York Yankees: $7.13 billion in 20233
2. Los Angeles Dodgers: $5.24 billion in 20233
1. Toronto Maple Leafs: $2.12 billion in 20224
2. New York Rangers: $2.01 billion in 20224
1. Los Angeles FC: $900 million in 20225
2. LA Galaxy: $865 million in 20225
Sports teams can theoretically boost their profitability in many ways, like bumping ticket prices, switching to dynamic pricing models, or switching up their merchandise strategy.
However, it’s safer to plan ahead and make informed decisions that will lead to bigger margins. Revenue and Capital Expenditure (CapEx) planning, as well as value analysis, can help sports teams grow their profits over time.
Sports teams can use data analytics and market research for a swath of decisions day-to-day, but only if they can truly access all their available data. With a complete planning platform for instance, teams could better assess opportunities for growth and act on them quickly.
Teams can focus their revenue planning efforts on aspects of operations such as:
With comprehensive planning software, you can better use scenario analysis to model and assess potential outcomes and risks from different strategies. This helps your team make informed decisions and mitigate potential losses.
Without a tool to synthesize inbound revenue data (like which fans are your most loyal, or where they’re spending the most money), you’re letting growth opportunities pass you by. Complete planning software puts the power in your hands by painting a clear picture of what your current revenue streams are doing and pointing out growth potential.
You can diversify your revenue streams by looking at opportunities like your:
These growth opportunities can also manifest as physical growth—future projects that further establish your team’s presence. You can use CapEx planning software to look to the future and assess the potential opportunity for projects, like:
With the proper planning tools, you can more clearly identify your potential return on investment for these decisions.
Athletes do everything they can to ensure their team performs well. But they’re not the only ones making a long-term impact on the organization.
Financial decision-makers in the realm of professional sports have a responsibility to guide team leadership toward the best possible game plan and more lucrative choices.
Take Dan Crumb, CFO for the Kansas City Chiefs, for instance. Through scenario analysis, he and his team were able to model the feasibility of the decision to sign quarterback Patrick Mahomes to the richest contract ever in American professional sports.
But with the many variables affecting a sports team, this can mean these lucrative choices are hiding behind mountains of data.
Complete planning software is the secret weapon you need to unlock your sports team’s full potential. With it, you can confidently make financial decisions using clear reasoning and foresight into future trends.
Scouring multiple sources, like disparate spreadsheets and systems just to find the right data is a waste of time. Without a single unified tool for planning, your finance team is likely scrambling to complete their budget, whip up financial statements and synthesize that information into digestible reports.
All that scrambling steals focus away from your goals for your team’s growth and profitability.
Complete planning software can combine your financial, sponsorship, ticketing, suites, payroll and premiums data into a single source of truth and link key financial statements to save you from manually aggregating data for reporting.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, complete planning software helped the team cut their financial reporting time by up to 95%. Game day settlement reports take just 15 minutes, allowing more time for sharp-eyed financial decision makers to seize opportunities for enhancing profitability and efficiency.
Using a complete planning tool that integrates smoothly with various data sources, finance team within pro sports teams can also expand their objectives beyond budgeting and financial reporting.
For instance, you can use complete planning software to track ticketing and sponsorship revenues, spotting trouble areas before they get too big to handle. You can also manage workforce planning to see where your team needs extra operational support and model player salary changes.
The Arizona Cardinals are a great example of using complete planning software to innovate an entire workflow. The Cardinals’ financial decision-makers were fed up with the inefficiency of offline Excel spreadsheets. The suite of tools they used amounted to no more than a “digital binder,” while they ran the real business out of Excel, according to the team’s Controller Christine Harms.
Fast forward to right after the Cardinals began using complete planning software to bring their operations into focus. Instantly, a commission statement that used to take 10 days to compile populates automatically in seconds. This gives Christine more bandwidth to offer better insights across the organization, leading to more strategic decision-making overall.
The most valuable sports teams have one thing in common: They know how to make money. What they do with that money may differ from year to year or franchise to franchise, but generally, the top teams use dedicated tools to ensure their hard-earned revenue serves them well.
With Vena for Professional Sports, you can drive your team toward increased profitability through streamlined revenue planning, variance analysis and budgeting and forecasting.
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Sources
1. https://www.sportico.com/feature/nfl-team-values-ranking-list-1234684165/
2. https://www.sportico.com/feature/most-valuable-nfl-franchises-chart-1234684186/
3. https://www.sportico.com/feature/nba-team-values-ranking-list-1234697991/
4. https://www.sportico.com/feature/most-valuable-mlb-franchises-chart-1234715839/
5. https://www.sportico.com/feature/nhl-team-values-ranking-list-1234693065/
6. https://www.sportico.com/feature/soccer-teams-football-club-ranking-list-1234721408/
