The NBA is the largest league in terms of viewership and endorsements around the world. The competition draws the attention of various spectators and it comes as no surprise that teams generate a lot of revenue during the regular season. Have you ever considered what NBA team has the largest market?
Which is the largest team in terms of revenue? The New York Nicks have the largest market in the whole NBA worth almost $5 billion. The franchise’s value grew massively since 2014 and shows no signs of slowing down even though the team has really bad results.
The New York Knicks are a franchise with a long history. Even though the team had problems with the performance it is still one of the most-watched ones and we will explore more details about the club in our article.
How is the methodology set?
Of course, when we talk about the teams with the largest markets, there is a specific methodology that experts choose to follow for determining the revenue. First of all, it is attention from spectators – how often the matches are shown on TV, what is the popularity, relevance and the impact of players. At the same time “big markets” normally tell how much attention is allocated, even when the team is not performing well during the regular season.
How is the rating according to the latest estimates?
American Forbes regularly published a ranking of the most expensive teams of the National Basketball Association with the largest markets. The New York Knicks are the most expensive club in the NBA according to the rating. The Knicks are valued at $5.42 billion.
The top five also includes the Golden State Warriors ($5.21 billion), the Lakers ($5.14), the Brooklyn Nets (3.40) and the Boston Celtics (3.18).
The average cost of NBA clubs is nearly $2.4 billion, down two per cent from pre-pandemic levels.
The Knicks’ value for the year increased by 9% to $5 billion. The Golden State Warriors came in second place. The team surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers, which dropped to third place. The Warriors became the first team since 1999 to break the hegemony of the Knicks and Lakers, which were consistently top two.
What other teams are famous with large markets?
While the New York Knicks are indeed leaders in terms of the market and attention there are also other clubs that tend to enjoy massive attention from loyal fans. We will have a brief look at each of them and the reasons why they are popular.
Boston Celtics
There are no question marks about the exposure of the Boston Celtics – the team enjoys a massive history, a rivalry against the Los Angeles Lakers and the metro area is pretty large. However, like the Knicks, they do not get the same media attention as their counterpart considering that Boston is not really oriented on this aspect.
Miami Heat
While the Miami Heat may not be enjoying a lot of attention and popularity in the NBA, there are other factors that we need to consider. First of all, when LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade formed a magnificent trio back in 2010, it had a lot of impact on the franchise. Furthermore, Pat Riley, who has become a symbol of the club, contributed to the growing success which resulted in winning 3 championship titles – in 2006, 2012 and 2013. In addition, the state is located at a place, which constantly attracts attention from numerous people whether they are interested in basketball or not.
Chicago Bulls
A big portion of the attention that the Chicago Bulls get from viewers is directly related to Michael Jordan who led the team to 6 championships titles (2 3-peats). Right now, the Bulls are far away from the form that they enjoyed during the Jordan-Pippen period, but the importance of the market has not diminished. The Bulls are still a force to be reckoned with and numerous players are looking forward to playing with this franchise.
Are titles and good performance necessary to have the largest market?
According to Forbes, for a team to have a high value, it does not have to win. The Knicks have lost nearly 70% of their games in the past six seasons and have won the playoffs only once since 2000. At the same time, they became the third club on the planet to achieve an estimate of $5 billion. The first two are Dallas Cowboys (American football) and New York Yankees (baseball).
During the 2020/2021 season which was cut short amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Knicks finally got to the playoffs only to lose against the Atlanta Hawks which managed to get to the Conference finals where they eventually lost against the winners of the league – the Milwaukee Bucks.
Another example that refutes the importance of winning a lot of games is the Los Angeles Lakers. Until 2020 when the team finally won the title after 10 years of waiting, the club had a lot of problems with the performance, but their fans did not let the franchise down.
How does the “market” of the NBA teams affect the league?
The success of the NBA is really noticeable, even despite the fact that in the 2019/2020 season, the teams played only 80% of the regular season matches and were left without high income from tickets to playoff games due to the coronavirus pandemic. The average profit of the NBA team, excluding interest, taxes and depreciation, decreased by only 12%, to $62 millions.
Television contracts and player wage cuts helped cushion the blow. In terms of operating profit, all NBA teams were in the black.