The Royals dropped three spots in Forbes' annual list of Major League Baseball team valuations, which were released Wednesday.
All but one team is worth at least $1 billion, and the Royals are valued at $1.015 billion, which was 27th in baseball. A year ago, the Royals were valued at $950 million, which ranked them 24th in baseball. Two years earlier, Forbes ranked the Royals 25th with a value of $865 million.
David Glass bought the Royals for $96 million in 2000.
It wasn't all good news for the Royals. The Forbes story says the Royals lost $17 million in 2017, one of six teams with an operating loss. Forbes' calculations found the Royals had $245 million in revenue and $64 million in gate receipts.
“The Royals were able to take advantage of the slow free agency market to bring back third baseman Mike Moustakas on a bargain, one-year deal,” Forbes wrote. “The Royals are expected to spend around $120 million in payroll in 2018, a reduction of more than $30 million from last season. One big challenge: What's left is a bare bones roster and a farm system Baseball America ranks as second worst in baseball. To get a few more bucks, Kauffman Stadium will host a concert for the first time in 39 years when Billy Joel performs in September.”
The top five teams on Forbes' list: the New York Yankees ($4 billion), Los Angeles Dodgers ($3 billion), Chicago Cubs ($2.9 billion), San Francisco Giants ($2.85 billion) and Boston Red Sox ($2.8 billion).
“Team values are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) that include the economics of the ballpark but exclude the value of real estate itself,” Forbes’ Mike Ozanian wrote. “We also do not include the value of team-owned regional sports networks. The league's ownership in Major League Baseball Advanced Media (100 percent) and the MLB Network (67 percent) and league's investment portfolio are included in our values. In total, these three assets constitute about $425 million in value for each team.”
Team values
Yankees: $4 billion
Dodgers: $3 billion
Cubs: $2.9 billion
Giants: $2.85 billion
Red Sox: $2.8 billion
Mets: $2.1 billion
Cardinals: $1.9 billion
Angels: $1.8 billion
Phillies: $1.7 billion
Nationals: $1.675 billion
Astros: $1.65 billion
Braves: $1.625 billion
Rangers: $1.6 billion
White Sox: $1.65 billion
Mariners: $1.45 billion
Blue Jays: $1.35 billion
Padres: $1.27 billion
Pirates: $1.26 billion
Tigers: $1.225 billion
Diamondbacks: $1.21 billion
Orioles: $1.2 billion
Twins: $1.15 billion
Rockies: $1.1 billion
Indians: $1.045 billion
Brewers: $1.03 billion
Athletics: $1.02 billion
Royals: $1.015 billion
Reds: $1.01 billion
Marlins: $1 billion
Rays: $900 million
This story was originally published April 12, 2018 1:35 PM.