Yankees worth $7.1 billion as MLB team values rise amid TV turmoil

Major League Baseball franchise values are on the rise, according to Forbes, despite turmoil caused by the recent bankruptcy filing of Diamond Sports and the continued disintegration of the regional sports network model that could shake up baseball broadcasting for this season and beyond.

The New York Yankees topped the list published Thursday by Forbes as baseball's most valuable team at $7.1 billion, an 18% increase from 2022.

Following the Yankees are the Los Angeles Dodgers at $4.8 billion (up 18%), the Boston Red Sox at $4.5 billion (up 15%), the Chicago Cubs at $4.1 billion (up 8%) and the San Francisco Giants at $3.7 billion (up 6%).

Overall, average MLB team value increased 12% over the past year to $2.32 billion, with revenue increasing 7.8% to $10.3 billion. Most of that money came from a 64% increase in ticket revenue, including the postseason and spring training.

As the most valuable team in baseball, the Yankees made $143 million in cable money in 2022 with games televised on the YES Network, the most profitable and most-watched regional sports network in the country. In total, MLB's 30 teams made about $2.3 billion in local television revenue in 2022, accounting for 22% of their total revenue before debt service.

In contrast to MLB, the NHL made $838 million on local television, 14% of its total revenue, while the NBA made $1.31 billion, or 13% of its revenue. The NFL splits media revenue evenly among teams.

The decline of local television has more heavily impacted teams in smaller markets such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres. Every team besides the Rockies and Padres — whose