Forbes revealed its valuations for every Major League Soccer franchise this week, and the big news was that Los Angeles FC became the first club to eclipse $1 billion in value.
Further down the list of franchise values, there was plenty of big news about FC Cincinnati, which is today valued at $560 million and has grown at a rapid rate since 2019.
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At $560 million, FC Cincinnati is the 14th-most valuable MLS franchise. But what's most interesting about the Forbes calculation of FCC's value today is that the last time the media outlet issued estimates in 2019, the club weighed in at $285 million.
That's a roughly 96.5% increase in value in just over four years. FCC is also out-pacing the growth of the average MLS franchise, which Forbes pegs at an 85% increases since 2019 on average.
Even with the considerable day-to-day costs of running an MLS franchise, that would seem to indicate a promising return on the $150 million expansion fee FC Cincinnati paid to enter the league when it was awarded a franchise in 2018.
After being introduced as a third-division soccer club in 2015 and playing its first-ever game in 2016, FC Cincinnati's value is already roughly half the value of the Reds, which was estimated by Forbes in 2022 to be worth $1.19 billion.
This all points to what FC Cincinnati Co-Owner and President Jeff Berding has long argued: That soccer is growing quickly in the U.S., and the Cincinnati region chose to embrace FCC at exactly the right moment.
What's changed for FC Cincinnati since 2019?
Forbes issued its $285 million valuation in November 2019, and FC Cincinnati was still very much in its infancy as an MLS club even though its first season in the league was completed.
The team still paid rent to the University of Cincinnati for the use of Nippert Stadium and had been paying for infrastructure tweaks to the century-old college football stadium during its time there.
The team continued to use Nippert until May 2021. Here are some other major events in the life of FC Cincinnati that occured since the last Forbes estimate and could be a factor in the most recent number:
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- In December 2019, Meg Whitman, the billionaire and former chief executive officer of several noteworthy tech brands, joined her husband, Dr. Griff Harsh, in pumping $100 million into FC Cincinnati for a sizable ownership share.
- In May 2021, FC Cincinnati opened TQL Stadium, the venue situated in the city's West End neighborhood and for which Total Quality Logistics (TQL) invested in naming rights. While Forbes doesn't factor for stadiums in its calculations of franchise value (more on that below), the stadium has provided ancillary revenue streams, other events such as a concert by The Who, and the possibility for more events to come.
- The cost of the concrete and steel and labor to build TQL Stadium might not factor into FC Cincinnati's value, but there's no question the venue is growing awareness of FCC on a global scale. The stadium received two major honors in 2022, including being named "Best Stadium" at the World Football Summit and receiving the Prix Versailles, the world prize for architecture and design in the sports category as awarded by UNESCO.
- All of MLS will benefit from the league-wide broadcast platform, MLS Season Pass, which is hosted by Apple. The platform launched Wednesday as part of a $2.5 billion, 10-year broadcast rights deal and is eventually expected to help raise the profile of the league.
How Forbes calculates franchise value
Forbes explained its methodology in the piece published Thursday, saying it "examined recent transaction data, reviewed publicly available financial information and spoke to more than 40 team executives, owners, investment bankers and industry insiders."
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The figures are estimates, and also notably do not include stadiums. FC Cincinnati's cost $250 million, is already offering events beyond MLS soccer matches and could host a college football bowl game in the future. There's real value in all of that.
Real estate and debt are excluded in the Forbes' calculation, so FC Cincinnati's $30 million suburban practice complex, the Mercy Health Training Center in Milford, isn't accounted for.
Forbes notes that its valuations are estimates.
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