(Reuters) – Spanish soccer club Real Madrid retained their title as the world’s most valuable sports franchise, according to a poll released by Forbes on Wednesday that was again dominated by National Football League teams.
Soccer clubs held the top three positions with the European champions valued at $3.44 billion, topping the list for the second consecutive year. They were followed by La Liga rivals Barcelona at $3.2 billion and Premier League club Manchester United at number three at $2.81 billion, Forbes said in a statement.
Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees occupy the number four spot valued at $2.5 billion while the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are worth $2.3 billion.
Rounding out the top 10 were MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers ($2.0 billion), soccer’s Bayern Munich ($1.85 billion), NFL’s New England Patriots ($1.8 billion), NFL’s Washington Redskins ($1.7 billion) and NFL’s 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, an eight percent increase from last year.
Four National Basketball Association franchises made the Forbes list with the New York Knicks coming in 13th with a value of $1.4 billion while the Toronto Maple Leafs were the only National Hockey League team to make the cut at number 26 with a value of $1.15 billion.
Ferrari are the only Formula One team on the list coming in 21st with a worth of $1.2 billion while McLaren, Oakland Raiders (NFL) and New York Mets (MLB) dropped from the top 50 this year
