Spanish football club Real Madrid has topped an annual Forbes list of the world’s most valuable sports teams.
The club, who won the Champions League in May, is worth an estimated $3.44bn (£2bn), Forbes said.
The top three slots are occupied by football clubs, with Barcelona in second place at $3.2bn, and Manchester United third, with a value of $2.81bn.
Forbes calculated the value of the teams based on equity, debt and stadium deals.
MLB baseball team the New York Yankees were in fourth spot, valued at $2.5bn.
In fifth place is NFL American Football team the Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.3bn.
Mets out
NFL teams fill 60% of the top 50 slots, occupying 30 places.
The 20 non-NFL teams in the top 50 include six from MLB, eight from football, four from NBA basketball, one from the NHL ice hockey league and one from Formula 1 motor racing.
Forbes calculates that the average value of the top 50 teams is $1.34bn, an 8% increase on last year.
Baseball team the New York Mets are one of three teams that dropped off this year’s list of the top 50.
The other two to fall out of the list are also familiar names, the Oakland Raiders from the NFL and F1 team McLaren.
The World’s Top 10 Most Valuable Sports Teams of 2014
|
2014 |
Team |
Owner |
Current Value |
Sport |
2013 |
|
1 |
Real Madrid | Club members |
$3.44 |
Soccer |
1 |
|
2 |
Barcelona | Club members |
3.2 |
Soccer |
3 |
|
3 |
Manchester United | Glazer family |
2.81 |
Soccer |
2 |
|
4 |
New York Yankees | Steinbrenner family |
2.5 |
MLB |
4 |
|
5 |
Dallas Cowboys | Jerry Jones |
2.3 |
NFL |
5 |
|
6 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Guggenheim Baseball |
2.0 |
MLB |
7 |
|
7 |
Bayern Munich | Club members |
1.85 |
Soccer |
12 |
|
8 |
New England Patriots | Robert Kraft |
1.8 |
NFL |
6 |
|
9 |
Washington Redskins | Daniel Snyder |
1.7 |
NFL |
8 |
|
10 |
New York Giants | John Mara, Steven Tisch |
$1.55 |
NFL |
9 |
–
Source: BBC
Information from Forbes was used in the article