Most Talkable vs. Most Valuable Sports Teams

In my post sharing Keller Fay Group data on the Most Talked about Sports Teams in America, Chris Navitimer asked a great question in the comments, “Does most talked about [sports team] automatically lead to [making the] most money?”

Hmm...

Forbes Magazine routinely runs a report of the Most Valuable Sports Franchises based upon revenues, operating income, and stadium deals. While that report doesn’t measure profitability, it does give us a look into how financially valuable sports franchises are.

I took a few minutes to compare the Most Talkable Sports Teams in America with the Most Valuable Sports Teams in America.

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The New York Jets were the most talked about team in 2010 and they are one of the most valuable teams as well. The Dallas Cowboys talkable value is nearly the same as their financial value. While the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Lakers both are highly talkable, that doesn’t translate well into their financial value.

Conversely, the New York Yankees and New York Giants are highly valuable financially but their talkable value from 2010 doesn’t match their financial worth.

Of course, this comparison between Talkable & Valuable sports teams is more interesting than conclusive because the financial valuations of sports teams are so reliant on the ability of a stadium to generate significant positive cash and on earning money from television properties. Nevertheless, it's an interesting peek into lesser known dimensions of our favorite American sports teams.

Comments

[Brad Fay]

Hey John--I think the main reason there's not more alignment here is the more popular form of sports "success": Results on the playing field, court, ice, etc. The Colts, Bears, Lakers, and Packers, have all performed well recently, driving up talk value even if not financial value to the same extent.

[john moore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Brad... sure, winning will drive fandom and fandom will drive conversations, no doubt about that. (Fandom will also drive merchandise sales, ticket sales, etc which will make a team more financially valuable.)

There are some anomalies though like the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics have a huge fandom and a huge number of NBA titles but they don't rank in the upper echelon of "most valuable" sports teams. That's interesting to me. With a new arena and a recent NBA title, you'd think the Celtics would rank higher in the most valuable list.

The Cavaliers are an interesting story. During the whole LeBron free agent hullabaloo, the Cavs were mentioned a lot. And then when Lebron took his talents to Miami, the Cavs continued to be talked about a lot. However, the Cavs aren't one of the most valuable sports teams ... and especially not so now with the struggling struggling to win games without Lebron James.

There are definite direct connections to being financially valuable and highly talkable. It just work in every case because too many variables, mainly stadium deals, influence the financial value of a team.