Arizona Cardinals 30th Most-Valuable Sports Franchise in World
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| ssur.org |
According to Forbes magazine, the Cards rank as the 30th most valuable sports team in the world.
The value of the team, owned by William Bidwill, is a hefty $935 million, and the Cards pulled in $223 million in revenue over the past year.
See the list here.
This isn't a bad ranking for a team that's been a perennial loser for most of its history.
The team is still riding the huge wave of success from their 2008 Super Bowl run as they were able to raise ticket prices 3 percent while most kept prices the same.
Despite the high ranking, the Cardinals aren't even in the top-half of all NFL franchises, which absolutely dominate the Forbes list.
In fact, all 32 NFL teams are on the top-50 list.
While the Cards are 30th in the world, they are only the 19th richest franchise in football. Even the Kansas City Chiefs (who have won only six games in the past two seasons) are more valuable than the Cards.
The top NFL franchises are the Dallas Cowboys at $1.65 billion, followed by the Washington Redskins at $1.55 billion and New England Patriots at $1.36 billion.
The New York Yankees are the most successful baseball franchise valued at $1.6 billion. They can thank longtime owner George Steinbrenner for that, as he helped turn the team into a dynasty -- again.
But the leader of the list isn't a football or baseball team. It's English soccer club Manchester United, worth a whopping $1.83 billion. The English sure do love their futbol.
For the hometown Cardinals, the opportunity to gain some spots on this list hinges on this season. A successful one means more ticket sales and people buying jerseys and hats to increase the revenue.
But a lackluster one (that doesn't include the postseason), and fans might go back to not even caring about the Cards.
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