Pittsburgh Steelers Fall In Forbes Franchise Rankings

Aug 24, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view of the Art Rooney Sr. (not pictured) statue outside of Heinz Field before the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

There’s no doubt the Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the more storied franchises to ever grace sports across the globe.  Steelers Nation’s reach is far and wide – just about anywhere you go, you’ll find swaths of people wearing jerseys of former and current players or other swag and memorabilia.  The team resides in a moderate media market, but because of Steeler Nation, the following still draws in the mega dollars.  Yet somehow between all the Super Bowl wins, a long history of success and general respect from any sports fan, and a following that can fill a quarter of a stadium or more easily wherever they may travel, the Steelers sit in the middle of the pack when it comes to ranking their value against other sports franchises.

Forbes released its annual 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams.  It’s a global ranking, which is key to keep important I guess, when trying to put these rankings into perspective.  The top three teams are soccer teams from other countries.  The Steelers?  They came in at #27 in 2014.  Not bad considering it is a global ranking and there are how many hundreds of different sports franchises out there.

This year is slightly disappointing because they’ve fallen three spots in 2014 from #23 in 2013.  Both years, however, they’ve stayed right in line with the other NFL teams part of this list.  The Steelers have ranked 13th among NFL teams both years.  So, even though the Steelers have a revenue increase of $18 million (taking them to $1.118 billion) so have the other NFL teams ahead of them.  The markets ahead of the Steelers are predictable with teams like the Cowboys, Giants, and Patriots placing well ahead in value.  Even the Ravens ranked ahead of the Steelers both years – something that the “Crappiest City of America” loves to gloat over.

$1.118 billion is nothing to shrug at.  That’s a ton of net worth, and the Steelers should gain some more value after they pay off the construction of the 3,000 seats being added to Heinz in time for the 2015 season.  So if you really care about something like this – then buy more stuff!!!!