Patriots

Patriots ranked as 8th-most valuable franchise in sports

The Red Sox and Celtics also made the list.

Robert Kraft's Patriots were ranked as one of the most valuable franchises in sports, again. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe

May 7, 2021

The Patriots’ 2020 season might have been their worst in over a decade, but they still are one of the biggest franchises in all of sports.

The Patriots were ranked as the eighth-most valuable franchise in all of sports by Forbes, who released its annual top 50 most valuable teams in sports list on Friday. While the Patriots went down a spot on the list from last year (with Spanish soccer club Barcelona passing them), their valuation went up by $300 million. New England was valued at $4.4 billion, trailing just the Dallas Cowboys ($5.7 billion) as the most valuable team in the NFL.

Over the last five years, the Patriots’ value has increased by 38 percent. The $4.4 billion valuation is a 2,428 percent increase from the $172 million price tag Robert Kraft bought the team for in 1994.

The Patriots weren’t the only local team to make the list. The Red Sox were ranked as the 20th-most valuable franchise, and the Celtics were in a three-way tie for the 25th-most valuable franchised. The Red Sox’ $3.47 billion valuation trailed just the Yankees ($5.25 billion) and the defending champion Dodgers ($3.57 billion) for the most valuable team in MLB. The Red Sox’ 2021 valuation represents a 51 percent increase over the last five years and is an 813 percent increase from the $380 million John Henry and Tom Werner spent to buy the team in 2002.

The Celtics’ $3.2 billion valuation was the fifth-highest in the NBA, trailing the Knicks ($5 billion), Warriors ($4.7 billion), Lakers ($4.6 billion), and Bulls ($3.3 billion). The Celtics’ 2021 valuation represents a 52 percent increase since 2021 and a 789 percent increase from the $360 million purchase Wyc Grousbeck and his group made to buy the team in 2002.

In addition to the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Group’s Liverpool squad also made the list. It ranked as the 12th-most valuable franchise in sports with a valuation of $4.1 billion. That number represents a 165 percent increase over the last five years.

The Cowboys, Yankees, Knicks, Barcelona ($4.76 billion), and Real Madrid ($4.75 billion), were listed as the top five most valuable franchises in sports in that order.