The Ravens may have found themselves looking up to their AFC North rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, all too often in recent years, but they’ve finally scored a victory that surely delights owner Steve Bisciotti, if anyone.
In Forbes Magazine’s annual ranking of global sports franchise valuations, published this week, the Ravens came in pretty darn high, at No. 12, with a value of $1.07 billion.
The Steelers were ranked No. 23 with a value of $996 million.
In other words, the Steelers might have the Ravens’ number on the field, having eliminated them from the AFC playoffs in two of the past three seasons, but the Ravens have the bigger number off the field – something of an upset considering the Steelers have played ball since the 1930s and the Ravens have been in existence for just 15 years, since Art Modell moved the franchise from Cleveland in 1996.
The fact that the Ravens are ranked ahead of every NBA franchise, every NHL franchise and every major league baseball franchise except the New York Yankees is a testament to a) the stunning power and popularity of the NFL, b) the hard work the Ravens have put in to become a winning team.
“Ravens fans are loyal as the team has sold out every game since moving from Cleveland,” Forbes wrote in a thumbnail sketch.
The world’s most valuable sports franchise, according to Forbes, is England’s Manchester United soccer club, priced at $1.86 billion, followed by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys at $1.81 million and the Yankees at $1.7 billion.
Seven of the next nine franchises on the list are pro football teams: the Washington Redskins at No. 4, the New England Patriots at No. 6, the New York Giants at No. 8, the Houston Texans at No. 9, the New York Jets at No. 10, the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 11 and the Ravens at No. 12.
Fourteen of the top 20 teams on the list are NFL franchises, with the outliers consisting of the Yankees, four soccer teams (Man U, Spain’s Real Madrid at No. 5, England’s Arsenal at No. 7 and Germany’s Bayern Munich at No. 19) and Ferrari of the Formula One racing series at No. 13.
After the Yankees, the second-highest-ranked baseball club is the Boston Red Sox at No. 31.
The highest-ranked NBA franchise is the New York Knicks at No. 47, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 48.
Six baseball teams made it into the top, 50 – the Yankees, Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at No. 38, Chicago Cubs at No. 42, New York Mets at No. 44 and Philadelphia Phillies at No. 50.
What about the Orioles?
In a Forbes ranking of baseball franchise valuations published last spring, the Phillies were valued at $609 million (sixth-highest among the MLB’s 30 clubs) and the Orioles were ranked No. 18 with a value of $411 million – two slots behind the Washington Nationals.
Tags: Ravens , Baltimore Ravens , john eisenberg , steve bisciotti
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