This week Forbes published its annual list of NBA team values, and revealed that the average club was worth an all-time high $1.25 billion (all figure in U.S. dollars). That figure represents a 14 per cent increase over last year.
By those measures, the Raptors are a little below average. Their $980-million valuation is 14th in the 30-team league, and seven per cent above last year’s number.
Do these figures mean the NBA’s rising tide of revenue and franchise value is leaving Toronto’s team behind?
Hardly. Experts say these annual franchise values are snapshots in time, with this year’s taken at a moment when the weak Canadian dollar squeezes any business that pays expenses in U.