Same as every year, Forbes published its list of the 40 most valuable brands, divided into four categories: businesses, events, athletes and teams.
The Forbes Fab 40 list quantifies the value of the top brands in sports, measuring how much the name of each brand -all by itself- contributes to their value or earnings.
In 2016, the most valuable brand in each of the four categories are the Super Bowl (US$ 630 million), Roger Federer (US$ 36 million), New York Yankees (US$ 660 million) and Nike (US$ 27 billion).
BUSINESS
Starting with the business category, Nike stays strong at the top, growing 3.8% from 2015. In second place is ESPN, which lost 2.9% to reach US$ 16.5 billion. The podium is completed by Adidas with US$ 7 billion and a 12.9% growth.
The UFC, which was acquired by WME/IMG this year, enters the list in seventh place with an added value of US$ 2 billion and an impressive 335% growth.
EVENTS
As far as events go, the Super Bowl is the clear leader of the list, growing 8.6% to reach a value of US$ 630 million. In second and third place stand the Summer Olympics (+5.2% - US$ 366 million) and the Winter Olympics (0% - US$ 285 million).
The FIFA World Cup was left out of the top 3, standing in 4th place with US$ 229 million.
ATHLETES
The list of individual performances is led by Swiss tennis pro Roger Federer, which despite losing 2.7% brand value, remains solid at the top with US$ 36 million. The star of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron James, is second on the list with US$ 34 million, 26% more than last year.
Third place was given to pro golfer Phil Mickelson with US$ 28 million. Despite winning every medal at the Rio Olympics, running superstar Usain Bolt didn’t make it into Forbes' top 3 and placed fourth with US$ 25 million, growing 39% from last year.
TEAMS
And finally, in the teams category, the New York Yankees lead the list with a brand value of US$ 660 million, followed by the Dallas Cowboys with US$ 577 million and the LA Lakers with US$ 546 million.
Soccer took over the following three sports on the list, with Real Madrid (US$ 521 million), in fourth place; the Barcelona (US$ 509 million) in fifth place and the Manchester United (US$ 500 million) in sixth place.
The complete list of brands and values, here.
