With the Major League Baseball season still in its first month, CNBC has issued its first ever list of the most valuable MLB franchises, with the New York Yankees topping the list at $8 billion, followed by the L.A. Dodgers who are valued at $5.6 billion.
The valuations were calculated by sports valuation expert and CNBC’s senior sports reporter Michael Ozanian. After adjusting for revenue sharing, he noted in an article that “the Yankees posted an MLB-high $705 million in revenue during the 2024 season.”
The Dodgers, who are the reigning World Series champions, generated $701 in revenue, according to CNBC’s calculations. The Yankees and the Dodgers were the only two teams to rack up more than $600 million in revenue according to CNBC.
Ozanian also reported that the Yankees, valued as the MLB’s most valuable team at $8 billion, were the third most valuable sports franchise in the U.S., trailing the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys (worth $11 billion) and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors ($9.4 billion). The NFL’s L.A. Rams were also valued at $8 billion.
While the MLB teams had eye-watering valuations, Ozanian also reported that the “MLB has been facing revenue headwinds from the decline of the regional sports network model and concerns about national TV rights, particularly since February, when ESPN announced it would opt out of its agreement with MLB after this season. A lack of a salary cap in the league has also hurt the bottom line. The NBA, NFL and NHL, all of which have salary caps, boast margins for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of about 20%. In contrast, MLB, which does not have a salary cap, has an EBITDA margin of 5%, according to CNBC’s calculations.”
The full rankings along with details of each team can be found here.
The full CNBC clip of Ozanian discussing the rankings can be viewed here.
