Forbes magazine on Wednesday named the Seattle Sounders as MLS’ third-most valuable franchise at $310 million in its annual rankings. Seattle is behind only Atlanta United ($330M) and the LA Galaxy ($320M).
“The Seattle Sounders’ home-game attendance numbers have long been the envy of the league; Seattle has drawn over 40,000 fans per game for the last seven years, a stretch during which no other team eclipsed average attendance of 33,000,” said the article. “The Sounders have a tremendous fan base, no doubt the result of some remarkably sustained on-field success: Seattle has never once missed the playoffs in its decade of MLS play. More recently, the Sounders have competed in the last two MLS Cup finals, winning one in 2016.”
The Sounders’ value increased by $15M from the 2017 rankings. The average MLS club is valued at $240M, up 7.6 percent from last year.
“Our valuations and financial estimates are based on recent team transactions, dozens of interviews with league insiders and estimates of individual revenue and expense streams,” the article said. “The league’s continued financial growth has made it an attractive investment for prospective team owners, and that demand helps explain why the most recently announced expansion teams are paying a whopping $150 million in expansion fees, a 650% increase from a decade ago.”
You can read the full article on Forbes’ website HERE.
