Boston Red Sox One Of Forbes' "Most Valuable" Sports Teams

Between the frenzied market they play in, the rich owners who took control of the team nearly a decade ago, and the history behind the franchise, it's not surprising to see that the Boston Red Sox are one of Forbes' most valuable sports teams in the world. Just where they rank is something that's a little more surprising, though, unless you happen to be all-knowing about franchise value for all sports, of both national and international varieties.

The Red Sox are ranked at 24, at exactly $1 billion in value, and are the only baseball team in the top 25 besides the New York Yankees (#3, $1.85 billion) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (#6, $1.4 billion). That's not bad company to be in, especially after sneaking over that one billion dollar mark.

It's somewhat interesting that, by virtue of being in the NFL, you earn a spot on this list in between the Dodgers and Red Sox. The NFL isn't the lone league featured in those ranks, but they dominant the early portions of the list. Like their geographical cousins in Boston, the New England Patriots rank third among all NFL teams, though at #6, and at $1.4 billion.

To get a sense of how odd it is to see the Red Sox at #24 despite their not being in the NFL, know that the next-ranked MLB club is the Cubs, who don't show up until #36, at $879 million, followed by the Phillies (#48, $723 million), Mets (#49, $719 million), and, in a huge coup given where they were just a few years ago, the Texas Rangers rounding out the list at #50, at $674 million.

Things could be worse for MLB, though. They could be the NBA, where the top-ranked franchise doesn't show up until #35, a spot the Lakers are in solely because their franchise value jumped 40 percent after signing a brand new television deal. That's right: the Lakers are worth slightly more than an MLB franchise that hasn't won a World Series for longer than the Lakers have existed.*

*This random attack against the Lakers sponsored by my sadness at not seeing the Celtics listed at all.