Forbes has released its list of the most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball. And, as in most things that have to do with money, they appear to have done a terrific and thorough job.
According to Forbes, the value of baseball franchises has never been higher. Still, some of the more valuable teams, like the Mets, also are the most financially troubled.
The most shocking and disturbing thing about this list is the gap between the value of the top teams and the bottom teams.
Now, I want you to enjoy this slideshow so I won’t give away too many details, but the gap is larger than a billion dollars. The increase in value is fairly slow and steady until we approach the upper-echelon of organizations.
I’ll leave the dynamics of how and where the teams are generating their revenue and value to Forbes.
We are going to discuss how this value affects their payroll and what kind of production they are receiving for their payroll. We can also mix in a little future speculation.
Notes: The 2011 salary figures are estimates that include projected arbitration etc. by Baseball-Reference.com. The individual salaries for players were obtained on SportsCity.com.