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Christopher Boan is a staff writer for BetMichigan.com. He has covered sports and sports betting for more than seven years and has worked for publications such as ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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How Much Would it Cost to Buy a Detroit Professional Sports Team?
It’s been 14 years since a Detroit sports team took home a championship, but that hasn’t stopped the city’s four professional teams from accumulating value.
The Lions, Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers have seen their purchase price values skyrocket since 2007, according to secondary data analysis by BetMichigan.com and Statista.com.
Here’s a breakdown of how each team’s value has changed in the last 20 years:
Detroit Lions See Surge in Value
It pays to be associated with the country’s No. 1 professional sport, as the Detroit Lions have seen their value quadruple between 2002 ($509 million) and 2022 ($2.4B).
The Lions have seen a steady rise nearly across the board, with the only yearly dip coming in 2010 when the franchise’s value fell from $872 million to $817 million.
Since then, Detroit’s NFL team has seen its value rise each year, cracking $1 billion for the first time in 2015 and surpassing $2 billion every year since 2019.
The Lions might be the lone team in Detroit without a modern-day championship (they won the NFL Championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957), but they still dominate the city’s landscape when it comes to monetary value. The Lions are also a local betting favorite since Michigan online sportsbook apps came on the scene a little more than a year ago.
How the Detroit Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings Stack Up
Both the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings have seen steady increases in value since 2007, while the Tigers rose between 2007 and 2019, before backtracking the following two years.
The city’s NHL franchise, which lays claim to the third-most Stanley Cup championships in NHL history (11) and the city’s most recent title (2008), has seen its monetary value climb for the most part.
The Detroit Red Wings went from $258 million in 2006 to a peak of $800 million in 2021, before seeing their value decrease slightly, to $775 million, in 2022.
The Pistons, on the other hand, have seen their value more than quintuple between 2003 and 2022 — going from $258 million in 2003 and $1.450B in 2021.
The Detroit Tigers, meanwhile, saw a steady spike in their value between 2002 ($262 million) and 2019 ($1.3B), before falling to $1.250B in 2020.
The team, which last won a World Series in 1984, rebounded a bit in terms of value during 2021, rising to $1.260B.
Detroit’s four sports teams have seen their value increase by nearly $4 billion over the last 15 years, giving owners a much better return on investment than fans of the respective franchises. For the latest news on Michigan online casinos check out BetMichigan.com.
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