Page 14 - OCEAN BLUE - SPRING 2018

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

SPORTS & MONEY

T he NFL is indisputably the most profitable sports franchise in the
world. In fact, Green Bay alone is valued at $1.9 billion U.S. In the
NBA, The New York Knicks are most valuable, followed by the Los
Angeles Lakers. Sport teams are big business, no doubt, but that
got us thinking about value and what factors determine success. A player’s career
by most definitions is short. So true success that translates to dollar value must
have more to do with coaching, player development, ownership consistency, and
the financial resources to outspend the competition. Right?

The playing field between teams is leveling out and one reason is better integration.
As recently as ten years ago, managers dealt with a player’s development and
sports conditioning in a silo, with little communication happening up the food
chain. Now, teams have full-on analytics programs and coaches can adjust
training to gain bigger competitive leads.

So back to the original question, is success measured by a team’s ability to fill
the stands or shut out the competition? Game performance is only one factor.
To measure true success, you have to look holistically at a team’s history,
management, social responsibility—all of these measure how people view the
team as a whole. A single player can make or break a team’s value too. Ben
Alamar, ESPN’s Director of Sports Analytics came up with a formula to measure
a top athlete’s fame factor. It’s one-part earnings, another part wins and losses on
and off the field, and finally social-media popularity and Google search-engine
rankings. Go figure.

U.S. Dollar for dollar
The richest athlete of all time is Michael Jordon, whose net worth is a whopping
$1 billion U.S. Not only did he have a successful career with the Chicago Bulls,
but also a stake in the NBA team, the Charlotte Hornets, endorsement deals and
well, his shoes. In tennis, some debate whether Roger Federer is the greatest of all
time. He holds 19 Grand Slam titles and is still blazing a winning trail at age 36
(mature for the sport by some standards) and holds 93 career titles and a total of
$108,250,560 U.S. in prize money. Not bad for the Swiss-born athlete who turned
pro in 1998. Then there’s golf. Phil Mickelson’s success garnered him $109.4 U.S.
million from PGA and European tours, second only to Tiger Woods at $158.7
U.S. million. Woods is still one of the richest athletes in the world, despite a few
setbacks.

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