Inside The 2024 List Of The World's Most Valuable Soccer Teams

Forbes

The average team is now worth $2.3 billion, a 5.1% increase from a year ago—despite headwinds in TV rights across Europe.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2024/05/23/the-worlds-most-valuable-soccer-teams-2024/?sh=533bcaaa4046  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, May 25.

00:05 Today on Forbes, the world's most valuable soccer teams 2024.

00:12 When Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire founder and CEO of Ineos Chemical Group, bought 27.7%

00:18 of Manchester United in February for an enterprise value of $6.5 billion, it was the richest

00:25 price ever paid for a sports team in which the buyer also got operating rights.

00:30 The deal, valued at $500 million more than Forbes estimated the storied English soccer

00:35 club was worth a year ago, not only paid tribute to Manchester United's list-leading $187

00:41 million in operating income—that's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and

00:47 amortization—and a global fan base of more than 650 million, it also exemplified why

00:53 12 of the 30 most valuable soccer teams in the world play in the Premier League.

00:59 Forbes now values Manchester United at $6.55 billion, second only to Spain's Real Madrid,

01:06 which at $6.6 billion, is the most valuable team in the world for the third consecutive

01:12 year.

01:13 The Premier League, England's top-tier league, which inked a new domestic television deal

01:18 in December for the 2025-26 through 2028-29 seasons for an average of $2.1 billion a year,

01:26 will be raking in more than twice the amount in domestic broadcasting revenue as any other

01:30 soccer league and nearly twice as much than No. 2, Spain's La Liga, when international

01:36 broadcast deals are included.

01:39 In essence, all of the European soccer leagues, with the exception of the Premier League,

01:43 are taking—or thinking of taking—loans against future value.

01:48 Italy's Ligue Serie A has been considering the sale of a stake in its media rights to

01:53 private equity investors since 2020.

01:56 In 2022, France's Ligue 1 sold 13% of its rights in a new subsidiary to CBC, which gave

02:03 Ligue 1 a nice cash infusion in exchange for paying CBC dividends from broadcasting rights,

02:10 sponsorship rights, and other relevant commercial contracts.

02:14 Last October, France scrapped its broadcasting rights auction because it did not get any

02:19 offers that met the minimum prices for Ligue 1 from 2024 through 2029.

02:25 In early 2022, La Liga did something similar, selling 8.2% of a new commercial subsidiary

02:31 to CBC.

02:32 Serie A was also thinking about selling its broadcasting rights to private equity, but

02:37 has apparently scrapped the idea.

02:40 Meanwhile in Germany, Bundesliga supporters are protesting selling equity in its broadcasting

02:45 rights.

02:47 The headwind in broadcasting deals means that performing on the pitch is vital for the best

02:51 soccer teams in the world.

02:54 The pecking order of valuations is based more on advancing far in the Champions League.

02:59 Through the semifinals of this year's Champions League tournament, there are seven teams that

03:03 have earned more than $100 million.

03:25 The winner of the Real Madrid-Borussia Dortmund final on June 1 will pocket another $21.6

03:31 million.

03:33 Real Madrid generated the most revenue, $873 million, of any team and has won the Champions

03:40 League five of the past nine years.

03:43 Sponsors can count on the team being on the screen in front of hundreds of millions of

03:46 soccer fanatics during plenty of big games, which is why Real Madrid earns an average

03:51 of $205 million a year for its jersey sponsors, the most in soccer according to Football Benchmark.

03:59 Not far behind in sponsorship revenue are other teams that typically qualify for the

04:03 Champions League.

04:04 Barcelona, $189 million, Paris Saint-Germain, $158 million, Arsenal, $158 million, Manchester

04:13 United, $154 million, Manchester City, $152 million, Chelsea, $126 million, and Bayern

04:21 Munich, $119 million.

04:25 In the Premier League, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, and Fulham FC increased sponsor revenue

04:30 with new front-of-shirt deals that began with the 2023-24 season.

04:36 Newcastle cashed in on a new deal with Cella worth about $30 million per year over three

04:40 years, four times more than what the team was receiving previously from Fun88.

04:46 Aston's $15 million a year agreement with BK8 more than doubled its previous sponsorship

04:51 with Kazoo, and Fulham's $12.5 million deal with SBO Top is 66% higher than its previous

04:58 sponsorship fee from W88.

05:01 Despite the speed bump in European broadcasting revenue, the average soccer team is now worth

05:06 $2.3 billion, a 5.1% increase from a year ago.

05:11 Rounding out the top five most valuable teams after Real Madrid and Manchester United are

05:16 Barcelona at $5.6 billion, Liverpool at $5.37 billion, and Manchester City at $5.1 billion.

05:26 For full coverage and to see the full list, check out Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum's

05:31 piece on Forbes.com.

05:34 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

05:37 Thanks for tuning in.

05:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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