Forbes: Yankees Baseball's Most Valuable Franchise At $1.7 Billion

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Forbes: New York Mets' Value Declined 13 Percent In Last Year

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Forbes: New York Mets' Value Declined 13 Percent In Last Year

Following a 2010 season in which the business of Major League Baseball was booming, Forbes Magazine says the troubled New York Mets were one of only three franchises to see their value decline.

The Mets, San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians were the only three of MLB’s 30 teams to see their values decline. The Mets are still the sports fifth-most valuable franchise at $747 million, but according to Forbes that is a 13 percent drop in value from a year ago.

Forbes says the Mets are “suffocating from debt and legal issues.” They say the team, owned by Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz, owes creditors $450 million.

Forbes summarizes the state of the Mets’ franchise this way:

The Mets franchise is getting hammered on two fronts. On the baseball front, the team went 79-83 in 2010, the second straight losing season, and per game attendance collapsed 17% in year two of Citi Field. The Mets are slashing ticket prices for the 2011 season hoping to regain lost supporters. On the ownership front Fred Wilpon and his partner Saul Katz are ensnarled in a legal battle with Irving Picard, the Trustee attempting to retrieve money for victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Picard is looking to recoup anywhere from $300 million to $1 billion from Sterling Equities, the holding company for the Mets. Making matters more difficult, the Mets and their 68%-owned regional sports channel, SportsNet New York, have over $1 billion of debt, including annual payments from Citi Field revenues that go towards debt service on the bonds sold to finance the stadium. The value of the team has dropped 13% to $747 million and Wilpon and Katz are looking for investors.

Mar 23 5:14p by Ed Valentine

Original Story

Forbes: Yankees Baseball's Most Valuable Franchise At $1.7 Billion

Forbes Magazine's finding that the New York Yankees are baseball's most valuable franchise is no big surprise. According to Forbes, that has been the base every season since the magazine started rating franchise values 14 years ago.

The surprise is the staggering gap between the value of the Yankee franchise and every other team in Major League Baseball. Forbes values the Yankees at $1.7 billion. The Red Sox, the second-most valuable franchise, are worth $912 million. That is an unbelievable difference of 86 percent. According to Forbes, back in 1998 the Yankees were only 12 percent more valuable than the then-No. 2 Baltimore Orioles.

Forbes calls the Yankees "a three-engine money-making machine."

The baseball team generated $325 million in revenue from regular-season tickets and luxury suites in 2010. The YES Network, the team's 34%-owned regional sports channel, is the most profitable RSN in the country and had over $400 million in revenue last year. The Yankees own a stake in Legends Hospitality Management, which manages stadiums, and generates $25 million in operating income. The enterprise value for the Yankees, YES and Legends is $5.1 billion. Although highly leveraged with $1.6 billion in debt (including Yankee Stadium's PILOT bonds), the team's enormous cash flow has easily covered the $64 million in stadium debt service payments.

Forbes pointed out that baseball as a whole seems healthier than it has ever been, with the average value of a franchise at an all-time high of $523 million. The only teams which fell in value from last season are the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres.

4:59p by Ed Valentine