I'm Always Surprised at One of the Most Valuable Sports Franchises
One of my favorite things to do each year is look at the Forbes.com list of the world's most valuable sports franchises. Most of the time, I am not surprised by the teams that make the list. Organizations like the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Manchester United and so forth are really the face of their respective sports, and they're known throughout the world.
A team that consistently makes the list that always surprises me, however, is the Washington Redskins. The Redskins are a team that has struggled for several years now, and have very few marquis players when compared to other NFL programs, and yet the team consistently rivals for one of the top spots among valuable sports franchises.
I began exploring the various reasons that this continues to occur, and I am still not sure that I have a definitive answer. An obvious reason would be the incredible popularity of the NFL in the United States and the fact that almost all of the football organizations are extremely profitable.
I would imagine, however, that a team that is among the top five wealthiest sports franchises in the world would have to have strong support from beyond America. Perhaps it is the fact that the Redskins are based in the nation's capital, and people from other countries will latch onto them because the first city they think of when someone mentions the United States, next to New York or Los Angeles, is Washington, D.C.
A friend of mine offered up the fact that the Redskins, within the span of a few years, defied racial stereotypes when they were led to Superbowl victories by an African-American quarterback, Doug Williams, and a Caucasian running back, John Riggins. He argued that those facts probably fostered a lot of good will as well as breaking down racial barriers.
There is also the fact that the Washington Redskins have a long and proud football tradition. While they have not had a particularly strong organization in recent years, they do have three Superbowl victories and five Superbowl appearances.
Of course, it could always be that the team has an excellent marketing department that has allowed it to be one of the more profitable sports franchises in the world. Then again, maybe it is a combination of all of those factors, and it would be virtually impossible to pin point one single reason.
I am not sure if I will ever know why the Washington Redskins are one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. They are the team that always sticks out to me when I see that list, but whatever they are doing in Washington, D.C., they seem to have it right.