Sports value and branding

Two days before Super Bowl XLI, Forbes magazine has ranked the most valuable sports brands in the world. The Super Bowl is #1 followed by the summer Olympics and the World Cup. That may come as a bit of a surprise, considering the Super Bowl is mainly an American phenomenon and not a worldwide mega-event like the Olympics or World Cup.

What's interesting is how Forbes made its evaluations. Commercial inventory was a big reason. In other words, advertising is still king and sports properties are valuable because the media (especially television) make them valuable. Feel free to pass that along to anyone (including department chairs and deans) who wonder why we think studying sports media is important.