Forbes published their 2012 valuations of Major League teams. They only list three teams as losing money. The Angels are just below break even and the Phillies are down about $11 million. The Mets, however, are in a big hole of $40 million. The Mets and the Rays are the only teams to slip in value as well.
Forbes attributes the overall increase in values to cable television:
Rights fees paid by cable television channels are behind the growth in team values. Aggregate cable television revenue for baseball’s 30 teams has increased to $923 million from $328 million over the past 10 years. And thanks to new television deals inked by teams like the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Texas Rangers that have yet to kick in, as well as the pending deal for the San Diego Padres and a likely rich deal that will begin in 2014 for whom ever buys the Los Angeles Dodgers, local television revenue could exceed $1.5 billion in 2015.
The richer television deals are evident in the prices that are being paid for teams. Jim Crane, for example, paid $610 million for the Houston Astros in November. Crane’s purchase included a 45% stake in Comcast SportsNet Houston, a new regional sports network owned by the baseball team, Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association, and cable operator Comcast. The RSN will begin televising the Astros in 2013 and pay the team an average of $80 million in rights fees over twenty years, more than three times what the Astros received from Fox Sports Houston last season.
The debt-laden Los Angeles Dodgers, whom we say are worth $1.4 billion (including the team, Dodger Stadium and the lease to the parking lots), filed for bankruptcy last July. Yet Frank McCourt has offers ranging from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion for his team. Why? The Dodgers current local television deals with Fox’s Prime Ticket and local station CBS affiliate KCAL Channel 9 expire after the 2013 season and the next deal could pay the team a rights fee that averages around $100 million a year, $55 million more than the team took in last season from Fox and KCAL.
It’s good times for most teams.