How the Houston Rockets Sale Compares With the Top Sports Franchises

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 9:59AM EST · Published Jul 19, 10:50AM EDT

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How the Houston Rockets Sale Compares With the Top Sports Franchises — © Thinkstock

Although baseball may be America’s favorite pastime, basketball brings home the bacon. This game attracts the attention of practically anyone with its high-flying dunks and amazing feats of athleticism. But when it all comes down to it, basketball is still a business. In a somewhat unpredicted move, the owner of the Houston Rockets is looking to sell the team.

Rockets CEO Tad Brown announced earlier this week that the long-time owner Leslie Alexander is putting the team on the market.

After a solid playoff run and recent offseason trades, the Rockets appear to be a fearsome competitor in the coming season. The team made it to the second round of the playoffs in the highly competitive Western Conference. Some might even argue that if the Rockets were in the Eastern Conference, they could have made it even further. And the Rockets have bolstered their arsenal in the offseason with the addition of LA Clipper’s All-Star point guard Chris Paul.

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So how do you value a team like this? Forbes last put a price tag of roughly $1.65 billion on them back in February. But like any sports team sale, there is generally an auction where the team goes to the highest bidder. The $1.65 billion tag might just be a jumping off point. Also, the moves that the Rockets have made recently might pump up the value.

The LA Clippers were the most recent notable sale of a basketball team. Back in 2014, they went for a whopping $2 billion. For comparison, the Atlanta Hawks sold for $850 million in 2015.

Forbes recently released a list of the top 50 most valuable sports franchises. They ended the list at around $1.75 billion, so the Rockets didn’t make the cut. However Forbes noted that there were about 36 other franchises that were valued upwards of $1 billion.

The Dallas Cowboys sit at the top of the Forbes list, valued at roughly $4.2 billion, followed by the New York Yankees at $3.7 billion, and Manchester United at $3.69 billion. The Forbes list:

Dallas Cowboys $4.2 billion
New York Yankees $3.7 billion
Manchester United $3.69 billion
Barcelona $3.64 billion
Real Madrid $3.58 billion
New England Patriots $3.4 billion
New York Knicks $3.3 billion
New York Giants $3.1 billion
San Francisco 49ers $3.0 billion
Los Angeles Lakers $3.0 billion
Washington Redskins $2.95 billion

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.