NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball’s most valuable team for a 22nd consecutive year, according to the annual list published by business magazine Forbes.
The 27-time World Series champion, which has held the top spot since Forbes began tracking MLB team finances in 1998, is worth $4.6 billion, the publisher said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ($3.3 billion), reigning World Series champion Boston Red Sox ($3.2 billion), Chicago Cubs ($3.1 billion) and San Francisco Giants ($3 billion) rounded out the top five.
The average MLB team is now worth $1.8 billion, an 8% increase from last year, due in large part to a continued escalation in the value of the sport’s media rights.
“The fact that Fox has agreed to pay almost 50% more for its national media deal with MLB beginning with the 2022 season shows that baseball content has significantly increased in value,” said Mike Ozanian, assistant managing editor at Forbes. — Reuters
