The second-year club, which hadn’t produced enough data to earn a look on last year’s value list, drew an MLS playoff record 70,526 fans for a home playoff contest and averaged more than 50,000 spectators a match, selling more than one million tickets this season to top the value table at US$330 million (RM1.38 billion).
Atlanta just missed topping the table on the field, trailing only New York Red Bulls, and United drive merchandise sales, responsible for 25% of league-wide MLS online merchandise sales. Five Atlanta players rank among the top five jersey sellers among MLS clubs.
“I think it’s one of the great expansion stories in the history of professional sports,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told Forbes. “The team continues to defy our expectations.”
Galaxy, which had topped the list, ranked second this year on US$320 million (RM1.34 billion), a 1.6% boost from last year, with Seattle Sounders third on US$310 million (RM1.3 billion), just ahead of first-year expansion side Los Angeles FC on US$305 million (RM1.279 billion, not including their new US$350 million (RM1.47 billion) downtown stadium, and 2017 MLS Cup winners Toronto in fifth on US$290 million (RM1.22 billion).
The average MLS team is valued at US$240 million (RM1.01 billion), a 7.6% increase from 2017.
At the bottom of the 23-team analysis was Colorado Rapids at US$155 million (RM650 million), just trailing Columbus Crew at US$160 million (RM670 million). The Crew owner wants to own a club in Austin, Texas, while an Ohio group tries to purchase rights to keep the Crew in Columbus.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are 21st at US$165 million (RM692 million), US$3 million (RM12.6 million) behind Montréal Impact and US$5 million (RM21 million) adrift of 19th-place Real Salt Lake.
An expansion team in Cincinnati announced in May will spend US$150 million (RM630 million), a 650% jump from 10 years ago and more than triple what the Montréal Impact paid to join in 2012.
At least 10 potential cities are in the hunt for a 28th expansion club, what MLS had said would be the last but that limit might yet be raised.
“I’m sure at some point in the off-season we’ll take a deep look at that and determine if anything will change in terms of our expansion strategy,” Garber said.
Garber said MLS is spending US$100 million (RM420 million) annually on player development and seeing some return with Alphonso Davies going to Bayern Munich in July for US$22 million (RM92 million), a record sum for MLS.