It can be difficult to tell what any Canadian team is worth at face value. It is even more challenging to compare different teams, whether in the same sport, different sports, same or diverse leagues.
The major challenge is that there are often too many things to consider when ascertaining a team’s value. These many considerations can be placed in two broad categories: the team’s finances and market share.
Lucky for you, we’ve combined all that data and crunched down all the numbers to accurately represent the bottom line.
From the teams’ books, the players’ wages on their payroll, and other managerial expenses they have incurred, we’ve worked it out so you don’t have to. Coupled with an in-depth analysis of their individual market share, the team culture,
fan engagement, and popularity measured by the number of subscriptions, social media impressions, and how often they appeared on betting slips on top sites in Canada make the below-listed teams irrevocably the most valuable in Canada.
The big hitters are, unsurprisingly, teams in Toronto cut across football, basketball, baseball, and ice hockey. What teams cut? Let’s find out.
1. The Toronto Raptors
Sport: Basketball
League: National Basketball Association (NBA)
Value: $3.1 Billion
If you are a Drake fan, you must have heard him brag about the Raptors in any of his rap songs. The Toronto-based Raptor’s superfan has been a vocal ambassador for the team since the 2013 season when he was brought into the fold by the then-general manager of the team, Masai Ujiri.
When you have one of the most celebrated artists in your corner, you are bound to have a lot of fans and followers, with the Raptors amassing over five million of them on Twitter and Facebook combined. The Raptors’ success did not come from just talking the talk, but they walked the walk to the NBA championship in 2019, the only non-US team to do so, taking down the Golden State Warriors, then defending champions.
With sponsorships and partnerships with brands like Tangerine, Subway, Chrysler, Expedia, Google, Hyundai, Intuit, Burger King, and Toyota in the 2022/23 season, it is no surprise this team’s valuation is through the roof.
2. Toronto Blue Jays
Sport: Baseball
League: Major League Baseball (MLB)
Value: $2.1 Billion
The Toronto Blue Jays are the only MLB team in Canada and the only non-US team to have won the World Series, not just once but twice back to back in the 1992 and 1993 seasons. This was about the same time the team was dominating the AL East with 5 division championships from the 1985 to 1993 seasons, winning three back-to-back from 1991 to 1993.
What this sets to say is that there’s a lot of history with this team. Backed up by immense support and loyalty from the fans, owned by Rogers Communications of the Rogers family in Canada with a $6.5 billion net worth, they can go shoulder to shoulder with other sports teams around the globe and their rich owners.
For the first time in the team’s history, their jersey would carry a sponsor patch as it has recently signed a deal with the Totonto-Dominion (TD) bank. This, coupled with the team’s recent successes, backs up the team’s valuation and gives fans much hope for the future.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs
Sport: Ice Hockey
League: National Hockey League (NHL)
Value: $2 Billion
The Maple Leafs are one of the four NHL teams that started the league and are currently one of the seven Canadian teams in the National Hockey League (NHL). While this is enough for most teams to claim legendary status, the Maple Leafs went one step further by winning 13 Stanley Cups to date.
This success has seen the team grow and establish its fanbase in Canada and beyond its shores. With an average attendance of over 19,000 fans watching each game, you would expect the team to rank high on this list with a chance to go even higher in the coming years.
It does not get any more homegrown than being sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, and with Auston Matthews on the team since 2016, fans are on the edge of their seat, believing every new season might be the season to break their Stanley Cup draught, the last of which came in 1967.
4. Montreal Canadiens
Sport: Ice Hockey
League: National Hockey League (NHL)
Value: $1.85 Billion
If there’s any requirement to being on this list, it would be a long and extensive history, and not many teams have more than the Montreal Canadiens, not just in the NHL but all of North American sporting history. It was founded in 1909, the only existing team to predate the NHL, and is the only other Canadian team besides the Toronto Maple Leafs to be part of the original founding teams of the NHL.
If you are one of the habs, you have 24 reasons to support this team, one for each of the last Stanley Cup championships won, with the last one coming in the 1992 – 1993 season, the last time a Canadian team won the championship.
Also, it would be understandable if you held a grudge against the New York Yankees, who usurped the Montreal Canadiens in 1999, winning their 25 World Series title to become the most decorated team in all four major North American sporting leagues: MLB, NHL, NFL, and NBA.
5. Vancouver Canucks
Sport: Ice Hockey
League: National Hockey League (NHL)
Value: $1.01 Billion
The Vancouver Canucks are relatively newer to the hockey stage than its more established rivals, the Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, joining in 1970. This might appeal to an audience who wants to avoid joining a team that has already won it all but wants to be part of the journey.
This and the promise the team has shown in carving its slice of history, having already been in three Stanley Cup finals in 1982, 1994, and 2011, is all the evidence its ever-growing fanbase needs to throw their weight behind their team.
The team’s trajectory has become clear with big-name sponsors like the Toronto-Dominion (TD) bank joining since the 2022 season. This supports their valuation of slightly over one billion dollars.
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