The Volvo Ocean Race is the only corporate sports event to qualify among the world’s most valuable sports properties.
The Volvo Ocean Race is also the only event on the list to carry the owner’s name – Volvo.
In a groundbreaking article, SportsPro Magazine has tackled the major task of ranking the 200 commercially most valuable properties in the world of professional sports. The ranking is global and encompasses everything from individual sportsmen and women to events and world championships. Included in the list are the FIFA World Cup, golfer Tiger Woods, soccer team Real Madrid and World Wrestling Entertainment.
The Volvo Ocean Race takes 35th place among the sports events listed, and it is the only corporate event that makes it onto the list. SportsPro estimates that if the Volvo Ocean Race were to be sold today, the competition would be worth 190 million USD, which easily exceeds what the VOR cost when it was purchased from the Whitbread Brewing and Leisure Group in 1998.
SportsPro notes that the properties bringing in the most money are not necessarily those that would be worth the most if they were to be sold, and conversely that the most valuable are not necessarily those that bring in the most money. One example is the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, which earns a modest 25 million pounds sterling. Not a record figure by any means, but sufficient for the tournament’s business model – Wimbledon is owned by a private members club. Sounds complicated? The article’s author notes that this is the very first time a list of this sort has ever been produced, and goes on to say that many factors were taken into consideration. The ranking took several months to collate and it will probably be the subject of animated discussion the world over.
According to the findings, the USA is the most important commercial market for professional sport, illustrated by the fact that the top four events in the list are all American:
- National Football League. Value: 4.5 billion USD
- Major League Baseball. Value: 3.9 billion USD
- National Basketball Association. Value: 2.6 billion USD
- NASCAR. Value: 1.9 billion USD