Los Angeles Dodgers Sale Increases Value of Major League Baseball Teams by 35 Percent, Report

Those who already own a professional sports franchise in America owe a debt of gratitude to the Los Angeles Dodgers' Guggenheim Baseball Management.

Those who dream of owning a professional team someday might have some other feelings toward the Dodgers' owners.

The Los Angeles Times on Thursday revealed that a new report from Bloomberg Millionaires said that the value of major league baseball teams increased by 35 percent from the value Forbes reported in January.

The 2.15 billion reasons? The purchase price the Guggenheim group paid to acquire the Dodgers, the Times reported.

Matt Miller, editor of Bloomberg Billionaires, told Yahoo! Sports that the $2 billion-plus Dodgers sale changed the landscape of MLB teams' valuations because it "really showed that you have to value all of the assets when it comes to the teams, you can't just do revenue from ticket sales, concessions and stadium-type deals and merchandising. Really, the driver of this is regional sports networks."

The Dodgers' new owners planned to start their own regional sports network, SportsNet LA, which is scheduled to start next season. It will be carried by Time Warner Cable, according to the Times, and the deal could be worth as much as $8.5 billion. MLB is expected to give approval of the deal before the 2014 season.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire's report, Major League Baseball has 10 teams worth more than $1 billion. The New York Yankees top that group with a value of $3.3 billion, $1 billion more than Forbes' last estimate, the Times reported.

The Dodgers were No. 2 at $2.1 billion, $500 million higher than Forbes' projection at the start of the year. In 2012, Forbes valued the Dodgers at $800 million.

0 teams are worth over $1 billion, led by the Yankees at $3.3 billion - a cool billion higher than Forbes' last estimate. Bloomberg has the Dodgers second at $2.1 billion, while Forbes' last ranking had them at $1.6 billion.

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