Forbes released its annual basketball franchise valuation list, and the Brooklyn Nets are valued at $530 million, good for the ninth-highest valuation in the league.
$530 is a 48% increase over last year’s valuation, the third-biggest percentage increase in the NBA behind the Boston Celtics and the Sacramento Kings (who were recently valued at $525 million for an impending sale to a Seattle-based group).
The Nets do have the lowest revenue of any team in the league at $84 million and have an operating income of -$16.6 million, second-lowest in the league. That operating income is an improvement of $7 million over last year’s number.
Here’s what Forbes had to say about the team:
The Nets posted the NBA’s second-biggest operating loss in their final season playing in Newark’s Prudential Center, but it is a new era for the Nets after their move to Brooklyn and the opening of the Barclays Center. Jay-Z, a small investor in the Nets, opened the arena to rave reviews with a series of eight concerts in the fall. The team is adding the NHL’s Islanders as a tenant starting in 2015, which will help offset the arena’s operating expenses. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov owns 80% of the Nets and a 45% stake in the arena, while real estate developer Bruce Ratner owns a controlling interest in the Barclays Center and will operate the arena. Ratner also owns 20% of the basketball team.
