Even though the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled on the court the last few years, it has done nothing to hurt the team’s popularity and financial success off of it.
The franchise has one of the best local media deals in all of sports and are constantly a fixture on national TV despite their at-times subpar play. The annual Forbes rankings of the most valuable franchises in sports gives a good idea of where the Lakers stand and as usual, it’s right near the top.
According to the publication, the Lakers are the second-most valuable franchise in the NBA, behind only the New York Knicks:
Like the Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled on the court in recent years. The last four seasons have ranked among the five worst in franchise history for winning percentage for the purple and gold. But the Lakers still mint money in L.A. thanks to nearly $150 million a year from its local TV and radio deals. It is 10 to 15 times what some small market teams make from local media. The Lakers are the second most valuable franchise at $3.3 billion, up 10%.
Following the Lakers and rounding out the top-five this year are the Golden State Warriors ($3.1 billion), Chicago Bulls ($2.6 billion) and Boston Celtics ($2.5 billion).
This is also the first time that every NBA franchise is worth at least $1 billion, due in no small part to the league’s new TV deal. The average worth of an NBA franchise is up to $1.65 billion, and the Philadelphia 76ers saw the largest growth of any team, raising their worth by 48 percent to $1.18 billion overall.
Nonetheless it is still great to see the Lakers worth remaining amongst the highest in the league and with the team improving on the court, it’s sure to keep moving up.
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