Business

The world’s most valuable franchise is…

It truly is the summer of soccer.

Spanish soccer team Real Madrid retained its title as the world’s most valuable sports franchise, according to a poll released by Forbes on Wednesday.

Soccer teams, in fact, held the top three positions, with Real Madrid valued at $3.44 billion, topping the list for the second consecutive year.

It was followed by league rival Barcelona at $3.2 billion and Premier League club Manchester United at No. 3 at $2.81 billion, according to Forbes annual listing of global franchises.

ManU on Monday announced a record $1.3 billion manufacturing deal with Adidas.

While Forbes pegged its value at $2.81 billion, the publicly traded team saw its shares rise 2.2 percent to close at $19.97 Wednesday, close to a 52-week high — giving it a market cap of $3.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the Nike Store at the Nou Camp, Barcelona’s stadium, had the highest sales of any Nike Store in the world and consolidated Barcelona’s ranking in the top three.

The New York Yankees occupy the No. 4 spot valued at $2.5 billion while the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are worth $2.3 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 were the Los Angeles Dodgers ($2 billion), soccer’s Bayern Munich ($1.85 billion), the New England Patriots ($1.8 billion), Washington Redskins ($1.7 billion) and New York Giants ($1.55 billion).

With 30 teams in the top 50, for the second consecutive year, the NFL occupies 60 percent of this year’s list.

The average value of the top 50 teams is $1.34 billion, up 8 percent from last year.

Four NBA franchises made the Forbes list, with the New York Knicks coming in 13th with a value of $1.4 billion. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the only NHL team to make the cut at No. 26 with a value of $1.15 billion.

Ferrari is the only Formula One team on the list, coming in 21st with a worth of $1.2 billion, while McLaren, the Oakland Raiders and New York Mets dropped from the top 50 this year.

With Reuters