Forbes released last week the annual list of the world's most valuable sports teams of 2024. This is measured solely on economic terms: not audience, not results, but how much money they make. And, as it is usual, most of them come from the US.
Specifically, 29 teams of the top 50 come from the NFL and 12 from NBA, which is the competition that has increased the most its valuable. Dallas Cowboys, for the ninth year in a row, is the most valuable, at $10.1 billion dollars. Golden State Warriors is second, $8.8 billion dollars.
European football might be one of the most followed sports in the world, but only seven teams make it into the top 50. Real Madrid is the first one, in 12th spot, with $6.6 billion, tied with Philadelphia Eagles.
The rest of football teams are Manchester United (14th), FC Barcelona (20th), Liverpool (27th), Manchester City (33rd), Bayern Munich (34th) and Paris Saint-Germain (47th).
If you're looking for other sports, the only other one that appears is baseball, with three MLB teams. There's no Formula 1: the only teams appearing last year, Ferrari and Mercedes, have fallen out of the top 50.
This shows that, despite being sports only seen in one country, the commercialization of American sports, and mainly the media deals, far surpasses the work made in Europe. Financial analyst study every year how to maximize the profits of teams and brands that, theoretically, should be more valuable, as they have a wolrdwide appeal. Hopefully, whatever solution they come up will not harm the fan experience watching them...