Proof in the numbers: NLL ownership groups amongst biggest in pro sports
Published
At the heart of the growth of the National Lacrosse League are its athletes on the field and its visionary leadership off it, and on Tuesday, while the teams recovered from one week of play and readied for another this weekend, several of the NLL ownership group were acknowledged by FORBES as part of their annual assessment of the world’s largest sports empires.
According to the report, “[T]he world’s 25 most valuable sports empires are worth a total of $174 billion, 23% more than a year ago. This year, we added a new 10% premium to the aggregate value of a sports empire to account for the scalability that comes with owning multiple sports properties. Even without the premium, the top 25 sports empires still did much better than last year. They would’ve been up 11.9%, to $158 billion.”
Liberty Media, whose value was listed $20.80 billion and included properties such as the Atlanta Braves, Formula 1, Drone Racing League, Kroenke Arena Co., Meyer Shank Racing, and Overtime Sports was listed as number one, while Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, whose value came in at $12.75 billion and includes the NLL Champion Colorado Mammoth along with the Los Angeles Rams, Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Arsenal FC, The Guard, Colorado Rapids, and Altitude Sports and Entertainment were second.
Other NLL ties in the exclusive list included: Pegula Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks (as well as the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Adpro Sports, and Rochester Americans) at #21 with a value of $4.46 billion; and Joe Tsai, owner of the San Diego Seals and Las Vegas Desert Dogs (as well as the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, G2 Esports, and LAFC) who came in at #23 with a $3.39 billion valuation.
“The National Lacrosse League is fortunate to have a collection of many of the brightest and most sophisticated sports business leaders on the planet,” said NLL Commissioner Brett Frood. “Their commitment to our constituents and the growth of the game is unrivaled. It is an honor and privilege to see three of our ownership groups, Pegula Sports and Entertainment, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and Joe Tsai, included in the Forbes’s piece highlighting global sport’s titans. We look forward to our continued efforts with this celebrated group and all peer owners, teams and players, as we aggressively pursue enhanced enterprise value.”
One thing is for sure, the value of franchises continues to rise, and the NLL ownership groups are right there amongst those leaders doing the most innovating, moving and shaking. The proof is in the numbers.