CNBC says Brooklyn Nets and associated businesses worth $6 billion (above Forbes' number, below Sportico's)

The Brooklyn Nets and associated businesses are "only" worth $6 billion (link), according to CNBC's new list of NBA valuations, "only" a 7.1% increase over last year's $5.6 billion.

That mean's they're ranked tenth in the league, rather than eighth last year. Still,  they're only a notch behind the Philadelphia 76ers, worth an estimated $6.1 billion, and the Miami Heat, valued at $6.05 billion.

"The average value of an NBA team is now $5.52 billion, 18% more than a year ago," CNBC's Mike Ozanian writes. He cited the impact of the new NBA TV deal, the role of private equity, teams being sold over multiple years, and new arena for the Los Angeles Clippers.

For the Nets, he cited revenue of $409 million, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of $80 million, and 13% debt as a percentage of value.

The calculation, as always, is a bit of an art, relying on both revenues, including if the team owner controls the economics of the arena (as does Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, with the Barclays Center), and valuations set by prices for sales or investment slices.

 

Some contrasts 

Sportico last October valued the Nets and associated businesses at $6.22 billion, up from $5.7 billion, sixth in the league.

It's worth noting that the rise in value was already accomplished when the Joe and Clara Wu Tsai's BSE Global sold a 15% slice to the Koch family, at an estimated $5.8 billion valuation (or more). BSE is now Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.

Forbes last October valued the Nets and associated businesses at $5.6 billion, up 17% and ninth in the league.

Forbes noted that NBA teams were valued at 12.8 times revenues, a figure significantly more than even football (10.7x) and double that of Major League Baseball, "a disparity that signals investors’ appetite to break into basketball."

Also note: the Tsais bought the New York Liberty for almost nothing, so that was not part of the $3 to $3.3 billion paid to Mikhail Prokhorov for BSE Global, now Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. Thanks to their savvy management, and the Brooklyn venue, it's now worth some $400 million.