Shadow of the Stadium: Rays' Franchise Value Soars Again; Still Lowest in MLB

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Rays' Franchise Value Soars Again; Still Lowest in MLB

Last year, the Rays' estimated value, according to Forbes, "only" grew by $25 million. Well, what a difference a year can make.

According to the newest Forbes MLB valuations, the Rays' franchise is now worth $825 million, a 27% increase since last year and nearly a 400% increase since Stu Sternberg bought the team in 2005.

Of course, the Rays are still the league's least-valuable franchise (A's are next at $880 million), thanks to the fact that everyone is getting really really rich from TV and digital deals.

ALSO: Rays have 99 problems, but gettin' rich ain't one

Forbes estimates the Rays pull in $205 million a year in overall revenues, with $32 million in operating income.

Basically, everyone's getting rich. Especially the highest-valued teams (Yankees - $3.7B; Dodgers $2.8B; Red Sox - $2.7B).

So as I say every year, this is just one more piece of evidence that any "problem" in Tampa Bay is not the fans' problem, but simply an issue of the league not sharing enough of its profits across its smaller-market teams.