The average Major League Baseball team is now worth $2.4 billion, 4% more than a year ago. With the exception of 2021— when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020 baseball season—it was the first time values increased less than 4% year over year since 2010.
The good news? Since Forbes first began doing valuations of MLB teams in 1998, when the average team was valued at $194 million, owning a team would have beaten inflation by more than five-fold and beaten the S&P 500 (excluding the reinvestment of dividends) by nearly double.
Revenue in MLB rose 10% in 2023, to an average of $378 million per team—the steepest increase since 2015. That increase was due to record ticket, merchandise, television and licensing revenue. But operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) only went up 6%, to an average of $19 million due to more spending on players, technology and analytics.
Forbes’ team valuations are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on historical transactions and the future economics of the sport and each team. Revenue and operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) are for the 2023 season and are net of revenue sharing, competitive balance taxes and stadium revenue used for debt service. Ownership stakes in regional sports networks, as well as related profits or losses, are excluded from our valuations and operating results, as are investments in real estate and other businesses. (For all-inclusive sports ownership valuations, see the 2023 Sports Empires rankings.) Sources include sports bankers, team and league executives, public documents like leases and filings related to public bonds, and media rights experts.
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