Angels ranked ninth most valuable franchise by Forbes

Buoyed by a recent stadium agreement with the city of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels are one of the most valuable teams in baseball.

The Los Angeles Angels are the ninth most valuable team in baseball, according to Forbes.

Their $1.97 billion team value puts them between the Philadelphia Phillies ($2.0 billion) and the Washington Nationals ($1.9 billion), but well short of the most valuable team, the Yankees, who were valued at $5 billion, and the second most valuable franchise, just up the freeway, the Dodgers, valued at $3.4 billion.

The Angels valuation is buoyed by the Anaheim City Council’s recent approval to sell Angel Stadium and its surrounding parking lots to a company controlled by Angels owner Arte Moreno, in a deal that will keep the Angels in the city until at least 2050. The sales price was announced as $325 million.

The Halos also benefit from a lucrative broadcasting contract with Fox Sports that nets them $116 million in revenue, third most, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers, according to Forbes.

Current owner, Arte Moreno, purchased the Angels in 2003 for $183.5 million. As sports teams across the professional landscape have seen exponential growth in valuation over the past several years, Moreno is riding the wave with the team now valued close to $2 billion. Forbes put their worth at $775 million just six years ago.

Looking ahead, with Major League Baseball currently suspended due to the coronavirus, millions of dollars in revenue are at stake if no games are played. Even if baseball does return, there is a good chance it does so without fans in attendance, possibly in Arizona.

According to the Forbes valuation report, the Angels generated $106 million from gate receipts last season, as over three million fans flocked to The Big A despite their mediocre record. Gate receipts, which includes club seating and luxury suites, accounted for 28 percent of the Halos total revenue last season.