The New York Yankees remain MLB’s most valuable franchise.

The arrival of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani helped Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers increase their value by a staggering 23 per cent over the past 12 months, according to Sportico.

Confirmed:

• The New York Yankees’ valuation increased six per cent year-over-year (YoY) to US$8.39 billion, the most of any MLB club
• The Yankees trail only the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys (US$10.32 billion) and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors (US$9.14 billion) in value
• The second-placed Los Angeles Dodgers achieved the biggest growth in value from 2024, with its valuation jumping by 23 per cent YoY to US$7.73 billion
• The Boston Red Sox (US$6.03 billion), the Chicago Cubs (US$5.69 billion) and the San Francisco Giants (US$4.2 billion) round up the top five
• The Miami Marlins are considered the least valuable MLB team at US$1.3 billion

Context:

The gap between the Yankees and the Dodgers has narrowed considerably thanks to significant growth in the Dodgers’ commercial growth in the past 12 months. They team has added a slew of Japanese brands as partners thanks to the popularity of Ohtani, who made his debut for the Dodgers in 2024. SponsorUnited estimated the team to have made US$70 million in revenue from new deals last year.

Meanwhile, Sportico noted that the Dodgers led all teams in terms of gate revenue in 2024, earning US$4.29 million per game. This was slightly ahead of the Yankees’ total of US$4.11 million.

The average MLB team is now worth US$2.82 billion, which is up seven per cent YoY. However, Sportico found that the least valuable MLB team valuation rose just 16 per cent from 2021, which is significantly lower growth compared to the NBA (128 per cent) and the NHL (159 per cent) across the same period. MLB also holds the lowest average value-to-revenue multiple compared to other major US leagues (6.6).

Coming next:

One of MLB’s biggest priorities at the moment is to find a new broadcast partner for its its Sunday night package, the Home Run Derby and the Wild Card postseason round, following ESPN’s decision to opt out of its US$550 million per year deal.

Amazon and Fox have been linked with a move, while NBC has also confirmed it is interested.