DALLAS — In addition to airing every game of the 2024 NBA Finals on our station, WFAA is also hosting a special presentation called "The Pregame" before each and every matchup in the series. Head here for more information.
Many pro sports franchises have exploded in value in recent years, including the Dallas Mavericks, most recently pegged by Forbes as the 7th most valuable out of the 30 teams in the NBA, with a $4.5 Billion valuation. That’s up 36% from the year before. But it could be even better.
And no, it is not always how you play the game; it appears to matter whether you win or lose.
A couple of years back Forbes ran the numbers and found that pro sports teams overall had jumped in value by an average of 74% in just five years. That’s great but not as great as 27 sports teams that soared by almost twice that amount in the same time frame.
The pro teams that made the elite list were all estimated to have at least 100% more in value in the previous five years. But some went up by more than 200% and even 300%.
Across all sports, the analysis found almost half of the 27 teams that had doubled in value had won at least one championship. Among the NBA teams on the list, all had either won a title or had been in the finals. And most of them had had those especially winning ways just in the last five years.
So as you sweat out the NBA Finals pulling for the Mavs, imagine the pressure on the owners who know what this could mean to their investment.
There are other winners too.
I recently went to a Mavs playoff game. It was one of the few they had lost. So, I have put myself in arena exile. I’ll watch it on TV from here on out.
Anyway, before the game, I noticed that post-season competition isn’t just on the court. There was a whole other level of competition for parking, tables, and barstools, compared to regular season home games I have attended. There is such a thing as playoff-packed.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce bolsters this. In 2019, they looked at different examples of what a Stanley Cup win and an NBA Championship did for a couple of other cities.
For the basketball championship, they looked at Toronto in 2019 and noted that one report showed debit and credit purchases in the greater Toronto area surged 28% immediately following a game as fans went to bars to celebrate. They cited one analysis that said the full long-term economic impact there was expected to be a huge windfall for the local economy, though that kind of lasting influence can be hard to directly assign to a singular event.
In hockey, the report focused on a St. Louis championship that same year and noted a reported $50 million impact from projected ticket revenue, merchandise sales, hotel bookings, and restaurant and bar sales during the finals. And a $300,000 infusion to the city just for their cut of ticket, parking, and concessions revenue.
Alas, we won’t see a doubling effect in North Texas now that the Stars are out of contention for the title, but the Mavs could bring a lot of excitement and value as they continue their run.
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