Toronto Blue Jays Ranked 22nd Out Of 30 Most Valuable Baseball Teams
Posted April 17, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You’ve seen it on the field. It shouldn’t be any surprise that you’re also seeing it in the coffers. When it comes to valuable baseball teams, the Toronto Blue Jays seem just like the standings – behind the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
Forbes Magazine, which tracks all things financial, has put out its annual list of how much the most successful Major League franchises are worth. And the Bronx Bombers come out on top as the highest valued team in all of the sport.
The Steinbrenner family’s storied franchise is worth an estimated $1.306 billion, the only club to break that mark. The cross-town Mets are next, at $824 million. The Red Sox take the bronze. Buy them today and expect to shell out $816 million.
And where do the Blue Jays rate in the financial standings? We’re number 22 out of 30, worth $352 million overall with revenues of $160 million last year. We’re easily beaten by the Dodgers (4th at $694 million) and the Cubs (in fifth at $642 million) and a host of other clubs in major U.S. cities.
But like most of those trailing behind the leaders, we try harder and have to deal with both Canadian and American dollars – something the other franchises escape. While a lot of the Jays’ fortunes come from lucrative TV deals and other areas, fans helped them to at least some of that money. Last year, ticket sales amounted to about $42 million – or just a few million less than A.J. Burnett’s overall salary.
Photo credit: Dave Sandford/Getty Images
