New York Knicks ranked as third most valuable sports team
The New York Knicks are the most valuable team in the NBA.
Apparently winning basketball games has very little to do with market valuations. According to Forbes, the New York Knicks are the third most valuable professional sports team in the world and the highest valued franchise in the NBA.
Forbes released a list this week of the 50 most valuable sports teams in 2020. The Knicks are currently valued at $4.6 billion. They were originally purchased by Cablevision and the Dolan family for $300 million in 1997. Joke all you want about Knicks ownership, they are laughing to the bank.
New York Knicks are the most valuable team in the NBA.
The Knicks narrowly beat out the Los Angeles Lakers ($4.6 billion) and Golden State Warriors ($4.3 billion) in rising to the top of the NBA valuation rankings. The Dallas Cowboys ($5.5 billion) and New York Yankees ($5 billion) were the two most valuable teams on the list.
Despite the Knicks not making the playoffs since 2013, before the pandemic hit, they have continued to pull revenue from luxury box suites and ticket sales.
The NBA is an exclusive club, with only 30 teams available for purchase, so whether the Knicks are winning or not, they represent one of the premier markets in a blossoming league. Surely, if the Dolans put the team up for sale (which would presumably include all MSG Sports entities), the purchase price would be astronomical.
The Brooklyn Nets sold in 2019 for a record-setting price of $2.3 billion.
Madison Square Garden Company (which owns the Knicks) recently separated its sports teams from their entertainment business in creating two publicly-traded companies: MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment. The spin-off occurred in the dark shadow of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced MSG to close its doors to fans.
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The Knicks announced the hire of Tom Thibodeau as their next head coach this week. New president Leon Rose is hoping to turn the franchise back into a competitive team in the near-future. Imagine the valuation if the Knicks were actually good!