Recognizable and popular brands bring tremendous value to a company. Consumers gravitate to well-known brands because they feel that the products provided by those brands are trustworthy. After all, they wouldn’t be popular if they weren’t, right? At least that is the logic that many consumers have regarding brands. As consumers, we often choose our groceries and fast food items based on the brand name. For instance, if we want a cheeseburger, we know numerous available fast food restaurants that serve cheeseburgers (e.g., McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and others). We also know the different taste, size, and cost of those cheeseburgers. We have become familiar with the brands and often base our purchasing choices on the products we know those brands offer.
While recognizable brands often include the food we eat, brands exist for a variety of other purposes. One of those is entertainment in the sports world.
Sports teams rely heavily on their brand in order to entice fans to attend games and purchase memorabilia. Heavily advertised brands are likely to do better than those less advertised. Providing a plethora of memorabilia (such as clothing, cups, key chains, and more) with recognized logos and brand names also helps raise brand value. The more recognizable a brand name, the more a team can charge for tickets and products. Winning teams also raise the bar for brand recognition, which increases the value of the brand.
According to Forbes, the top five most valuable sports team brands in 2015 were as follows:
- New York Yankees with a $661 million brand value.
- Los Angeles Lakers with a $521 million brand value.
- Dallas Cowboys with a $497 million brand value.
- New England Patriots with a $465 million brand value.
- Real Madrid with a $464 million brand value.
These numbers identify value based on brand, not necessarily the worth of the brand or the team in general. This means that the brand name alone can provide much value in generating revenue and recognition for a team. Therefore, the more visible the brand, the more valuable it becomes. As you can see, the most popular sports team brands range in sport type – baseball, basketball, and football.