Just last year, the Cleveland Indians were the 27th most valuable franchise, with a team value of $920 million. But in 2018, the Tribe is valued at over one billion dollars for the first time.
The Indians are ranked 24th out of 30 MLB teams this year by Forbes with an overall value of $1.045 billion, marking a 14 percent one-year increase, with a year over year increase of seven percent. Those percentages may not sound very large but considering the money involved, that’s a considerable increase.
Larry Dolan bought the team in 2000 for a price of $323 million, and since then the value of not only the Indians, but MLB franchises in general have skyrocketed.