Over five months after signing a record-shattering $77 billion media rights deal, Sportico released their valuations for all 30 NBA Franchises on Wednesday, with the Miami Heat coming in as the 8th-most valuable league-wide. Purchasing a franchise these days might be too draining for most of our financial portfolios, but if you’re looking to do live casino gambling, such as live roulette in Ontario, you might be more in luck.
They were valued at approximately $5 billion, with the average franchise being valued at $4.6 billion. Golden State topped the league once again, followed by the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls, respectively.
The league’s aggregate valuation is up 15 percent from last year and nearly double what it was four years ago, per Sportico. Given the NBA’s new media rights deal with Walt Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon, the numbers may only shoot up with streaming and its growing relevance in today’s society.
Given the surging sports gambling industry, you also wonder how much this will impact the live casino market. Sports gaming has never been more popular, and the American Gaming Association reported that commercial gambling and live casino revenues increased over 10 percent compared to 2022.
According to Sportico’s projections, the league is expected to generate $250 million per team after the 2033-24 season, currently at $103 million; the first year of the new media deal is expected to reach $137 million in revenue distribution per team with the final year reaching nearly $300 million.
This will be an excellent boost for smaller market teams–such as the Memphis Grizzlies–who are the least valuable team in the NBA despite being one of the best in the Western Conference.
The NBA’s cap grew over three percent last year after a 10 percent boost from 2022-23 to 2023-24. In the recently ratified CBA, the cap can’t increase more than 10 percent, so we could see a significant boost in annual checks from the league that ultimately trumps the cap if the revenue continues to spike, giving few franchises excuses not to spend. Still, maybe they’ll try their luck on the live casino market instead.