Brand Finance® Sporting Brands 2012 Press Release On the World’s most valuable sports brands

For Immediate Release 23/10/12

The BrandFinance® Sporting Brands 2012:

Europe defeats US in Global Sports Brand Clash

European teams top list of 250 most

valuable sports team brands

Manchester United is the world’s most

valuable sports team brand

NFL teams have the highest average brand

values

For the first time, the brand values of all major

sports teams worldwide have been calculated and

compared. Manchester United triumph with a brand

value of $853 million. Brand Finance plc, the world’s

leading brand valuation consultancy, compiled the

list of the world’s 250 most valuable sports teams,

including football clubs and teams from the NFL,

NHL, NBA, MLB and the Indian Premier League. The

full BrandFinance® Sporting Brands 2012 table can

be found at www.brandirectory.com.

Football club brands top the table - Manchester United is 1st with a brand value of $853m

The Dallas Cowboys are the top US team, narrowly defeating the New England Patriots

The NFL has the most teams in the top 10 and teams with the highest average brand value

At $398m the NY Yankees’ brand value is double its nearest MLB rival the St Louis Cardinals

The LA Lakers are the most valuable NBA team and are 40th with a brand value of $205 m

The NHL’s player lockout has hit brand values - Montreal Canadiens are top, but 81st overall

The most valuable IPL team, the Mumbai Indians, is 146th overall, with a value of $48 m

Football 36%

NFL 33%

MLB 16%

NBA 10%

NHL 4%

IPL 1%

% of total brand value of the BrandFinance®

Sporting 250 attributable to different sports

229*

285

146

91

38 35

Average team brand value for different

sports (US$ millions)

Football figure based

on top 32 clubs for

comparison with NFL

BrandFinance® Most Valuable Team Brands by Sport

Rank 2012

Club Sport Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Manchester United FC

Football 853 AAA+

5 Dallas

Cowboys NFL 510 A+

10 New York Yankees

MLB 397 AA

40 Los Angeles

Lakers NBA 204 AA

81 Montreal Canadiens

NHL 107 A+

146 Mumbai Indians

IPL 48 AA

*

Inequality in Football

European football provides the four most

valuable sports team brands. However on

average football brands are less valuable than

those from the NFL. The total value of all 32

NFL team brands is $9.1 billion whilst the

total for the 32 most valuable football brands

is just $7.3 billion.

This shows how polarized football clubs have

become in terms of wealth, reputation and

prestige. The teams at the very top such as

Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona

and Bayern Munich are global brands with an

international following. They are supported

by super-rich foreign investors as well as

income from European competitions and can

leverage their brands to generate revenues

worldwide from. Meanwhile even top-flight

teams outside this elite are struggling to

compete or are deeply indebted to cover

player wage demands.

Socialist US vs Free-Market Europe

This disparity can be quantified using the Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality which represents

perfect equality as 0% and total inequality as 100%. The results clearly show that football is by far

the most unequal with a figure of 45.01%. In contrast the coefficient for the 32 teams of the NFL is

18.26%. MLB, the NBA and NHL have coefficients of 18.27%, 22.39% and 31.28% respectively.

Commenting on the findings, Brand Finance CEO David Haigh stated, “Some may see this as further

evidence of the need for financial fair play rules in football, to cap the wage inflation that has

created such a gulf in both performance and in financial sustainability. Others will note with interest

that while the US is usually seen as the home of free-market capitalism and Europe generally more

committed to equality and redistribution, on the sports field the opposite appears to be true. While

billions of dollars can be freely spent on the Presidential election campaign, Peyton Manning’s jersey

must remain logo-free.”

IPL stumped

Despite cricket being the world’s second most popular sport, the total value of IPL teams is just $321

million. The league has also been dogged by well-documented corruption and financial

mismanagement. The greater parity between its nine teams is one things the IPL does have to cheer

about however. The Indian Premier League is the most equal of all the major sports leagues in terms

of brand value. Its Gini coefficient is just 11.31%.

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable Sports Team Brands

Rank 2012

Club Sport Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Manchester United FC

Football 852 AAA+

2 FC Bayern München

Football 785 AAA

3 Real Madrid

CF Football 599 AAA+

4 FC

Barcelona Football 580 AAA+

5 Dallas

Cowboys NFL 510 A+

6 New

England Patriots

NFL 499 AA

7 New York

Giants NFL 471 AA

8 Green Bay

Packers NFL 460 AAA

9 Pittsburgh

Steelers NFL 410 AA+

10 New York Yankees

MLB 397 AA

Notes for Editors

The valuation date for the BrandFinance® Sporting Brands 2012 is 1st June 2012.

The working definition of ‘brand’ used is, “trademark and associated intellectual property.”

Incorporating data from all listed companies globally, each brand is accorded a brand rating (a

benchmarking study of the strength, risk and future potential of a brand relative to its competitor

set) as well as a brand value (a summary measure of the financial strength of the brand). Brand

Finance uses the Royalty Relief method to analyse the royalties that a corporation would have to pay

to license its brand if it did not own it.

About Brand Finance

Brand Finance plc, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, advises strongly branded

organisations on maximising their brand value through effective management of their brands and

intangible assets. Founded in 1996, Brand Finance has performed thousands of branded business,

brand and intangible asset valuations worth trillions of dollars.

Brand Finance is headquartered in London and has a network of international offices in Amsterdam,

Athens, Bangalore, Barcelona, Cape Town, Colombo, Dubai, Geneva, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul,

Lisbon, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto and Zagreb.

For further information, please visit the Brand Finance Website.

The BrandFinance® Forum

The release of the BrandFinance® Sporting Brands 2012 comes ahead of the 2012 BrandFinance®

Forum, which is being held on October 25th at the RAC. This year’s theme is, ‘Understanding the

Value of Sports Brands’ and features speakers from Manchester United, McLaren, LOCOG, Aviva, GE

and the US Olympic Committee. This will be an opportunity to learn more about how the sports

team brand values are calculated and the implications of the figures for teams, leagues and

sponsors. More information can be found at the Brand Finance Forum Website.

The BrandFinance® Journal

The full results and analysis of the BrandFinance® Sporting Brands 2012 will be available in the next

issue of the BrandFinance® Journal, due for release in November. Past issue of the journal, including

reports on the nation brands and the brand value of the monarchy can be found here.

Media Enquiries

UK & International

Robert Haigh Matt Hannagan

Communications Manager Sports Valuation Analyst

T: +44 (0) 20 7389 9400 T: +44 (0) 20 7389 9400

M: +44 (0)7762211267 m.hannagan@brandfinance.com

r.haigh@brandfinance.com

US Canada

Elise Neils Edgar Baum

Managing Director Managing Director

Brand Finance (USA) Brand Finance (Canada)

T: 312 256 3845 M: +1 647 922 6238

M: 312 671 2340 e.baum@brandfinance.com

e.neils@brandfinance.com

Appendix

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable Football Club Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Manchester United FC

853 AAA+

2 FC Bayern München

786 AAA

3 Real Madrid CF 600 AAA+

4 FC Barcelona 580 AAA+

5 Chelsea FC 398 AA-

6 Arsenal FC 388 AA-

7 Liverpool FC 367 AA-

8 Manchester

City FC 302 BBB+

9 AC Milan 292 AA+

10 FC Schalke 04 266 BBB+

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable NFL Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Dallas

Cowboys 510 A+

2 New England

Patriots 500 AA

3 New York

Giants 471 AA

4 Green Bay

Packers 460 AAA

5 Pittsburgh

Steelers 410 AA+

6 New Orleans

Saints 340 AA

7 Philadelphia

Eagles 337 A+

8 Baltimore

Ravens 329 AA-

9 Houston Texans

325 A+

10 Washington

Redskins 325 A

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable MLB Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 New York Yankees

398 AA

2 St. Louis Cardinals

213 AA-

3 Philadelphia

Phillies 207 AA-

4 Boston Red

Sox 205 BBB+

5 Los Angeles

Dodgers 187 BBB+

6 Texas

Rangers 174 BBB+

7 San Francisco

Giants 173 A+

8 Atlanta Braves

163 A

9 Detroit Tigers 162 BBB+

10 Chicago Cubs 155 BBB-

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable NBA Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Los Angeles

Lakers 205 AA

2 New York

Knicks 178 BBB+

3 Miami Heat 157 BBB+

4 Chicago

Bulls 143 A

5 Dallas

Mavericks 137 A

6 Boston Celtics

119 A+

7 San Antonio

Spurs 115 A+

8 Orlando Magic

104 BBB

9 Toronto Raptors

100 BB

10 Houston Rockets

94 BBB

BrandFinance® Top 10 Most Valuable

NHL Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Montreal Canadiens

108 A+

2 Toronto

Maple Leafs 105 BBB+

3 New York Rangers

83 A

4 Vancouver

Canucks 81 BBB+

5 Chicago

Blackhawks 52 A

6 Pittsburgh Penguins

52 A

7 Detroit Red

Wings 51 A+

8 Boston Bruins

48 A

9 Ottawa

Senators 39 BB+

10 Philadelphia

Flyers 39 BBB

BrandFinance® Most Valuable IPL Brands

Rank 2012

Club Brand Value

(US$ m)

Brand Rating

1 Mumbai Indians

48 AA

2 Chennai Super

Kings 45 AA

3 Royal

Challengers Bangalore

41 A+

4 Kolkata Knight

Riders 39 A

5 Delhi

Daredevils 32 A-

6 Hyderabad

Deccan Charges

31 BBB

7 Pune Warriors 29 BB

8 Kings XI Punjab

29 B

9 Rajasthan

Royals 27 B