What a list of football’s 50 most valuable clubs tells us about the global state

A top 50. Usually the preserve of music charts, NFL draft pundits’ big boards or TripAdvisor restaurant guides. They are less common in football.

What is common in football is talking about money — this season’s Premier League, for example, has almost been as influenced by financial fair play (FFP) regulations as it has by the play itself.

Sports-business analysis website Sportico has released a list of what it says are the sport’s 50 most valuable clubs — calculating revenue streams based on figures published by club accounts, before then using “team-specific multipliers”.

These multipliers are “based on multiple factors, including: historical sales, market (size, saturation and interest by prospective owners), strength of brand, on-field performance (historical and recent), terms of facility lease, debt burden and additional obligations, as well as expected future team and league economics”.

Business magazine Forbes also provides a similar catalogue — the Forbes Football Rich List.

Football is large and contains multitudes, such as culture, politics, and romance. But it is also a business.

This, then, is what Sportico’s top 50 tells us about the state of the game worldwide.

MLS is rapidly growing in value

Which league has the most representatives in the top 50? The Premier League would be the obvious guess.

But 20 clubs in Sportico’s list are from Major League Soccer (MLS) — just under 70 per cent of the entire league.

Los Angeles FC ($1.15bn) are the highest-ranked MLS club at 15th, but Atlanta United, Inter Miami, LA Galaxy and New York City FC all make the top 20, too.

While big-city sides from the North American league are towards the top of the list, smaller markets are also represented in a boon to MLS’ development — the likes of Austin FC (21st), Portland Timbers (30th), Columbus Crew (37th), FC Cincinnati (38th), and Nashville SC (40th).

Los Angeles FC supporters celebrate a goal last month (Harry How/Getty Images)

There may be confusion over this.

The majority of those clubs are not household names in Europe, the way Premier League teams are among the sport’s fans in the United States. Revenues in MLS are low, its clubs do not often turn a profit, and they do not have access to UEFA’s lucrative prize pot for those competing in its continent-wide competitions.

But the valuations take into account an asset’s long-term potential — and MLS clubs are positioned far better than many mid-table European counterparts.

For one thing, the absence of relegation in the MLS model gives its teams a higher income floor — while the league’s cost-control measures, together with existing, modern stadiums, means they have the structure to one day maximise revenues. This year, season-ticket sales and revenue grew by 15 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

Interest is growing — high-profile player arrivals, headlined by Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami, have boosted the league’s global profile, with…