Forbes Magazine Ranks Most Valuable Sports Teams: Patriots Ranked 6th, Red Sox 23rd

Every year Forbes ranks the top 50 sports teams around the world based on their value as a business. And although the top two teams are European soccer clubs (Manchester United of England and Real Madrid of Spain), the list is dominated by the NFL. All 32 teams are in the top 50, due mostly to the League's colossal TV contracts.

Here's the full article on Forbes' site. The list is very interesting, although it noticeably and inexplicably omitted Ted DiBiase's Money Inc.

Top teams Man United (valued at $2.23 billion), and Real Madrid ($1.88 billion) have global followings and companies pay top dollar/pound/Euro to sponsor them.

The New York Yankees ($1.85 billion) were ranked 3rd. The Yankees have a lucrative regional sports network (YES) and massive revenue from tickets and luxury boxes. The Yankees generate $330 million in ticket revenue, far and away the most in the Majors. The Red Sox are second with $190 million.

The Dallas Cowboys tied with the Yankees for 3rd. Their new stadium apparently includes a money-printing machine.

The Washington Redskins were 5th, valued at $1.56 billion.

The Patriots were 6th, worth $1.4 billion. That's thanks in part to owning their own stadium, selling out every game, and having some of the highest ticket prices in the NFL.

The LA Dodgers tied with the Patriots at 6th. Spanish soccer team Barcelona was 7th worth $1.31 billion. The New York Giants were 9th at $1.3 billion. London-based soccer club Arsenal FC were 10th at $1.29 billion. Here's the rest of the list:

11. Bayern Munich (German soccer team) - $1.23 billion
11. New York Jets - $1.23 billion
13. Houston Texans - $1.2 billion
14. Philadelphia Eagles - $1.16 billion
15. Ferrari (Formula 1 racing team) - $1.1 billion

Maybe Fenway Sports Group invested in the wrong kind of racing. Formula 1's global appeal attracts massive sponsorship money.

16. Chicago Bears - $1.09 billion
16. Green Bay Packers - $1.09 billion
16. Baltimore Ravens - $1.09 billion
19. Indianapolis Colts - $1.06 billion
20. Denver Broncos - $1.05 billion
21. Pittsburgh Steelers - $1.02 billion
22. Miami Dolphins - $1.01 billion
23. Carolina Panthers - $1 billion
23. Boston Red Sox - $1 billion

The Red Sox are the 3rd ranked baseball team on the list, which is nothing to be ashamed of. The two ahead of them (Yankees and Dodgers) play in the two largest media markets in the country. The Red Sox are in the #6 market in the US, have a small ballpark, and are still worth $1 billion. They're worth more than half the teams in the NFL, which is saying something.

The Sox make their money from high ticket prices, technically selling out every game, and from their 80% stake in NESN. Even when Fenway Park isn't filled to capacity, people still leave a lot of cash there.

25. Seattle Seahawks - $997 million
26. San Francisco 49ers - $990 million
27. AC Milan (Italian soccer team) - $989 million

AC Milan will be playing an exhibition game at Gillette Stadium on August 4th. So the 27th most valuable sports team in the world will be guests of the 6th most valuable team.

28. Kansas City Chiefs - $986 million
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - $981 million
30. Cleveland Browns - $977 million
31. New Orleans Saints - $965 million
32. Tennessee Titans - $964 million
33. San Diego Chargers - $920 million
34. Arizona Cardinals - $901 million
35. LA Lakers - $900 million
36. Chicago Cubs - $879 million

Proof that winning doesn't necessarily mean profits. Perhaps the Red Sox are learning too much from the Wrigley-model. The Cubs are far and away the most popular team in Chicago, even though the White Sox are much more successful on the field.

37. Cincinnati Bengals - $875 million
38. Detroit Lions - $844 million
39. Atlanta Falcons - $814 million
40. McLaren (Formula 1 racing team) - $800 million
41. Minnesota Vikings - $796 million
42. Buffalo Bills - $792 million
43. New York Knicks - $780 million
44. St. Louis Rams - $775 million
45. Oakland Raiders - $761 million
45. Chelsea FC (English soccer team) - $761 million
47. Jacksonville Jaguars - $725 million

The least valuable team in the NFL is worth more than 26 MLB teams, 28 NBA teams, and all 30 NHL teams.

48. Philadelphia Phillies - $723 million
49. New York Mets - $719 million
50. Texas Rangers - $674 million

It's amazing how valuable NFL franchises are. Even in very small markets like Jacksonville and Buffalo, teams are worth more than MLB teams in Philadelphia, New York, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

At the same time, the Cowboys are worth more than twice as much as 10 other NFL teams.

Market-size seems to dictate value in the 3 non-NFL leagues. But even in the NFL, market-size, history, and success separate the ultra-wealthy teams like Dallas, Washington, New England the Giants; from the just-rich teams like Buffalo, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, and Minnesota.

David Ortiz to DL

The Red Sox have placed David Ortiz on the 15-Day Disabled List. He was diagnosed by Red Sox doctors with a strained right Achilles. After receiving a second opinion, that diagnosis was confirmed. Or as Dr. Bobby Valentine put it: "He has a right strained heel, Achilles’ attachment type thing."

Valentine also said that Ortiz would do nothing baseball related for a week to 10 days while the heel heals. Then again, Valentine's projections on injuries this year have always been on optimistic side.

Ortiz suffered the injury by stepping awkwardly on a base after Adrian Gonzalez hit a homerun. It was a CBI, a Classic Baseball Injury. When you consider that Ortiz spends most of the game on the bench, then has to run at full speed on the bases, it makes sense. That starting and stopping can be very hard on a muscle or a tendon.

Without Ortiz, the Sox will need Adrian Gonzalez to play up to expectations. Contributions from Ellsbury and Crawford are also needed more now.

Mauro Gomez was called up and started last night as the DH. I wouldn't mind seeing Crawford play some games as the DH, considering his elbow issues.

Perhaps Ortiz will realize that this is the reason the Sox don't extend his contract. You never know what will happen to a player during the season.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Ross and Gonzalez Power Red Sox

Cody Ross and Adrian Gonzalez knocked in all 10 Red Sox runs last night. Prince Felix Doubront made another very solid start and the Red Sox cruised to a 10-1 victory.

Ross hit a pair of 3 run homers, one in the 3rd, the next in the 4th. He now has 15 on the season, along with 47 RBI. Ross has the second best slugging percentage (.557) on the team, behind David Ortiz. So with Ortiz on the DL, the Sox need him to continue to hit for power.

Adrian Gonzalez also needs to help fill the void left by Ortiz. And he's starting to do that. He was 3 for 4 last night with a solo homerun and a pair of RBI singles. He knocked in 4 runs.

In his last 20 games, Gonzalez is hitting .427, slugging .598, has hit 3 homeruns and knocked in 19 runs.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford did their job and got on base. Ellsbury was 3 for 4 with a double. Crawford was 1 for 3. Ellsbury scored 3 times, Crawford twice.

The offensive output from the top of the order slightly overshadowed yet another good outing by Felix Doubront. He already has 10 Quality Starts this season. Most of them are the 6 inning, 3 earned run variety, but that's good enough. He's only failed to go 5 innings in 3 starts. He's gone 6+ innings 12 times.

This was a great combination win. The big name talent like Gonzalez, Ellsbury, and Crawford did their job. The second-tier guys like Ross and Doubront continued to go above and beyond.

The Sox have a good chance to win this series tonight. Clay Buchholz faces 4-1 Jose Quintana. Quintana is a leftahander who's had consistency problems. For instance, he had an 8 inning 1 run start against the Rangers. Then followed that by getting knocked around by the Royals for 5 runs in 5 innings.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Kevin, You Kill Us

I know that the words "ego" and "Bobby Valentine" have likely never been used in the same sentence before. Valentine is, after all, one of the least macho, least egotistical, least arrogant managers in the game. So I'm sure his decision for Lester to pitch to Kevin Youkilis with first base open in the 4th was based entirely on logic, and not on a desire to prove himself superior to the player he called out in April.

Whatever the baseball logic or Freudian psychoanalytical reasons behind allowing Lester to pitch to Youkilis, the simple fact is Lester pitched, Youkilis swung, hit the ball, and it went a long way. Youkilis executed, Lester didn't.

And Jon Lester hasn't executed much at all this season. He fully deserves his 5-7 record. He's failed to go 5 innings 4 times this year. He only failed to do so 3 times last year.

Strangely enough, all 3 of those sub-5 inning outings came in the second half of last season. He had 19 Quality Starts in 2011. But 12 of them were in April, May, and June. Only 7 for the rest of the year. Since July of 2011, Lester is 10-12. And since September of 2011, he's 6-10 with a 4.93 ERA. He's been failing to meet expectations for a full calendar year now.

Monday night Aaron Cook gave the Red Sox a great start. And Adrian Gonzalez finally came through in the clutch. And I had a glimmer of hope that if the second-tier guys like Cook continue to perform, and the big-name talent like Gonzalez can contribute, the Sox have a good chance. Well Lester is one of those big-name talents. He isn't contributing much, though.

The Red Sox are 7-12 when Lester starts. If they were just 10-9 in those games, they'd be leading the Wild Card race.

Why can't we have more Aaron Cooks and fewer Jon Lesters?

The Sox had a chance to secure at least a 2-2 split in this series. Instead, it was just another wasted opportunity for the Red Sox.

Felix Doubront takes the mound tonight. He faces Pedro Hernandez, who is making his Major League debut. Hernandez is a lefty and the Red Sox have no experience facing him. That usually doesn't bode well.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Bill James is an Idiot

Baseball numerologist and Red Sox adviser Bill James was being interviewed on ESPN Radio the other day, and very passionately defended Joe Paterno:

"It's very hard, in fact it's impossible, to explain why Paterno should have been the person to go to the police. Paterno didn't see anything. Paterno was not the reporting authority. Sandusky did not work for Paterno. Paterno had no supervisory authority over Sandusky. It's extremely difficult to explain why it was Paterno's responsibility to go to the police. He knew less about it than anyone else there...

"You're saying everything revolves around him. (Paterno) had very few allies. He was isolated and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been...

"They kept it quiet because they had no idea what was happening... they just thought they were dealing with a little misunderstanding."

Bill James has never been afraid to go against the trending sentiment, but this is beyond reasonable. Paterno not only failed to notify authorities, he actively ended any investigation into what Sandusky was doing. He didn't turn a blind eye, he turned a seeing eye.

Anyway, James' defense of Paterno is outdated. And late.

He's entitled to his opinion, but he's also a prominent member of the Red Sox organization. So yesterday, the Sox told him to shut up. Then issued a statement publicizing their request that he keep silent about Paterno:

"This afternoon, Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry and Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington spoke to Bill James regarding him making public his personal opinions on Joe Paterno. In that call, Mr. James was informed that his comments in no way reflect the opinions or positions of the Red Sox; and, because he is perceived as a representative of the Red Sox, he was asked to refrain from any further public comments on this matter."

Smart move by the Red Sox. While James is entitled to his completely wrong and illogical opinions, he is perceived as a representative of the Red Sox. Him being a jackass makes the Red Sox look bad.

James should have at least known his opinion was controversial and not widely held. But judging from the opinion itself, it's hard to imagine him being rational about it in any way.

Yes, I am calling him an irrational numbers man.

Red Sox Win Thanks to Home Cooking

There are two types of players on the Red Sox: those who have exceeded expectations and kept the team afloat, and those who have disappointed and been a drag. Last night the Red Sox won because a starting pitcher exceeded expectations, and also because one of those previously disappointing draggers stepped up and contributed.

Aaron Cook went 7 innings, allowing only 1 run that was due entirely to defensive miscues. While the infield was shifted, Will Middlebrooks made a mistake in covering the wrong base. Adrian Gonzalez compounded the mistake by throwing to the uncovered 3rd base. Either that or Middlebrooks went to the Chad Ochocinco school of route running and wasn't on the same page as Gonzalez.

Fittingly, that run-scoring play was on a groundball out. Because Cook induced 15 of those, and only allowed 6 fly-outs. So even though he didn't strike anyone out, he kept the ball low, and the White Sox couldn't lift it off the ground.

Cook, then Vicente Padilla, kept the White Sox from scoring long enough for Adrian Gonzalez to get his clutchest hit of the season. He blasted a deep homerun to left-center and blew the game open in the 8th.

It was Gonzalez's first homerun since June 24th, the day Youkilis was traded.

This was the type of win I like to see from the Sox. They've gotten some good outings from Aaron Cook, and finally highly paid stars like Gonzalez are taking advantage of the opportunities given to them by the hungry role players.

David Ortiz extended his hit streak to 11 games, and his walk streak to 10 games. Then he injured himself rounding 2nd base on Gonzalez's homerun. I think he's listed as day-to-day with a Classic Baseball Injury (CBI).

Pedro Ciriaco was 3 for 4 with a double and is currently hitting .464.

Carl Crawford returned to the lineup and was 1 for 3 with a single. He scored twice and drew a walk. He only walked 23 times last season.

The Red Sox made Dylan Axelrod look like a Cy Young candidate, but that tends to happen when they face someone they have little experience facing. And that also makes this win even more satisfying because it was a game that easily could have gone the other way.

The Red Sox need Jon Lester to start pitching like Aaron Cook. Lester is on the mound tonight, facing Philip Humber. Humber is 3-4 with a 6.01 ERA and hasn't had a Quality Start since May. Adrian Gonzalez and Jarrod Saltalamacchia have done well against him in the past.

This is a great chance to secure at least a split in this series.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Bobby Valentine vs. Kevin Youkilis

Kevin Youkilis is returning to Fenway Park tonight. And even though most Red Sox fans agree that he probably had to be traded, there is still a strong undercurrent of support and appreciation for the man who brought a Paul O'Neill attitude to the corner infield, who won a Gold Glove at first base then was willing to move to third, who was an associate member of the 2004 World Series winning Red Sox and a very full member of the 2007 World Series winning Red Sox.

Everyone seems happy to welcome Kevin Youkilis back, especially the promotions people in the Red Sox ticket office. Everyone except Bobby Valentine.

It doesn't seem like Valentine and Youkilis saw eye-to-eye. It's not difficult to figure out why. Valentine sees himself as an Alpha. Youkilis is always grumbling and gritting his teeth. He's a dissenter. It was natural for these two to tango.

Even now, when April is a distant memory, Bobby Valentine is still harping on how his ex-player reacted to stuff that he told the media months ago.

Before I discuss this further, let's remember that Youkilis is gone. He's a member of another team in another city in another division. He is no longer the charge or responsibility of the Red Sox or of Bobby Valentine. He's out of here, absent, long gone. He's an opponent now, and his time as a member of the Red Sox is very much in the past. It is long since time to move on.

So why is Bobby V talking about him in the present tense? Everyone, including Youkilis, seems to have moved on. So why can't Bobby V say "he was a good player but the circumstances dictated that we do something because we had too many players for too few spots in the lineup." Why can't Bobby V implement worn-out, yet honest lines such as that?

Instead, Valentine placed all responsibility for any player-manager relationship strains on Youkilis: "I think the comment I made early, he made a big issue out of, and I don't think he ever wanted to get over it... I have no idea. It was whatever he wanted it to be."

So Valentine is saying that the ex-player who has been traded and played well for his new team couldn't get over something? Seems to me like Valentine can't get over Youkilis.

In retrospect, it doesn't seem like Valentine was ever a big fan of Youkilis. Valentine has been diplomatic and defensive when discussing all the other injured players on the Red Sox. With Youkilis, Valentine publicly questioned his work-ethic and his commitment to the team.

There are plenty of players on the Red Sox whose commitment and work-ethic are worthy of scrutiny, Why did Valentine pick Youkilis'?

Maybe it was because Youkilis was alleged to be the so-called "snitch" that leaked information to the media about Josh Beckett and friends getting liquored and chickened up in the clubhouse.

Did Valentine target Youkilis? Did he think he could rally the disjointed Red Sox clubhouse and unite them against a common enemy?

If not, why is Valentine still talking about it? Since being traded, Youkilis has fed the media the standard lines. He appreciated his time in Boston but he's focused on the White Sox now. Any and all Youkilis-driven clubhouse drama ended when Youkilis left the clubhouse. Why is Valentine still trying to isolate Kevin Youkilis and attack him?

Why is Kevin Youkilis a major issue for Valentine? I thought the point of trading Youkilis was to prevent him from becoming an issue.

But I guess Valentine wants to try to unite his team around a common cause. Valentine feels the need to be responsible for everything. That's why he blames Youkilis for creating a strenuous clubhouse atmosphere. And now Valentine wants to be the one who gets credit for getting Youkilis out of here and allowing that atmosphere to calm. Valentine's remarks simply provoked the beast into acting like a beast. And Valentine helped remove the beast. Bobby V wants credit for the tranquility he's helped create in the Red Sox clubhouse.

Well be careful what you wish for, Bobby, you just might get it. You seem hell-bent on being responsible for what happens with this team, and in the end, you likely will be. Don't worry. I'm sure Francona will get a job managing a baseball team and ESPN will be looking for a loud-mouthed, opinionated, frequently incorrect jerk to help boost ratings. Bobby V is the Skip Bayless of baseball managers.

Red Sox Take Two of Three in Tampa Bay

This was an important series win for the Sox. They needed to start the second half right. They needed to beat teams like the Rays who are competing for those Wild Card spots. To finish above the Rays in the standings, they need to beat them. It's very simple, but very true.

I'm not overwhelmed by the Sox performance this past weekend, though. Saturday was a winnable game that was lost. And the Sox gave Tampa Bay plenty of opportunities to turn the other games around.

Honestly, are you impressed with what Josh Beckett and Alfredo Aceves did yesterday afternoon? Beckett was a slow-motion disaster in the 1st inning, then Aceves nearly blew a 4 run lead in the 9th.

The Sox are only 1.5 games out of the 2nd Wild Card spot. But there are 4 teams between them and Baltimore. In this race, the name of the game is separation. What will separate the Red Sox from these teams in the final standings?

Winning a series like this is important because it helps give them separation from Tampa Bay. A sweep, obviously, would have given them even more separation. Had they swept, they'd be 0.5 games out, ahead of Tampa Bay, and tied with Oakland and Detroit. Only the two Wild Card teams (the Angels and Orioles) would be ahead of them.

If Josh Beckett can pitch as well as he did from the 2nd inning on, that can give the Sox the necessary separation to break away from the pack. Jacoby Ellsbury went 3 for 5 yesterday, he could prove to be the separation from the other teams. If Adrian Gonzalez can hit in the clutch, if Will Middlebrooks can get hot again, if Clay Buchholz can stay healthy and effective, if Mike Aviles can hit the occasional homerun (as he did yesterday), these could all be the separating factors that allow the Red Sox to get one of the Wild Card spots.

One thing they must also do is be able to score against good pitching and hold their own against good teams. Speaking of which, the White Sox come to town for 4 games. I'll be content with a 2-2 split in this series.

Tonight Aaron Cook faces Dylan Axelrod, who has been a part-time starter for the White Sox. But none of the Red Sox have much experience against him, and that's frequently not a good sign.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo