Arsenal overtakes Chelsea on Forbes’ most valuable teams list

After years of stagnation and looking up at Chelsea, Arsenal finally surpassed their London rivals … on the Forbes list of Most Valuable Sports Teams of 2016.

Despite being denied the top spot in the Premier League and playing second (or worse) fiddle among the London teams for so many years, Arsenal continued their run of form and got another one over on Chelsea. Arsenal leap-frogged over Chelsea in Forbes’ list of Most Valuable Sports Teams of 2016, moving up 13 spots to number 23 on the list. Meanwhile, Chelsea dropped from 31 to 36.

Ahead of Arsenal in the rankings are Manchester United in fifth place, the highest finish for any Premier League side, and Manchester City. Creeping up behind Chelsea are Forbes debutantes Liverpool, entering at 41st place.

Forbes placed Chelsea’s value at $1.67 billion, a 48 percent change over 2015. The Gunners came in at $2.02 billion, a 54 percent increase. Things will get worse before they get better for Chelsea and the Forbes list. Without Champions League football next year, the Blues will likely drop further down Forbes’ 2017 edition. The hopeful return to Europe for 2017-18 and the beginning of Chelsea’s sponsorship with Nike should allow Chelsea to overtake Arsenal on the 2018 rankings.

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Real Madrid and FC Barcelona were the two most valuable football teams, coming in second and third places, respectively. Bayern Munich was the Bundesliga’s lone representative in 12th place.

The Forbes Most Valuable Sports Teams list will be fodder for people like Dietmar Hamann who think the Premier League is an over-inflated hype machine. But the Premier League is the only non-American sports league with more than two teams on the list. Premier League teams comprise 10 percent of the world’s most valuable sports teams.

The financial worth of a team speaks to its ability to attract and retain the world’s top players, and this effect is magnified at the league scale. Contra Hamann, the Premier League does not struggle to attract world-class talent. Unlike the Chinese Super League and the Qatar Stars League, the Premier League has more than just buckets of money to offer, which is why it attracts and keeps players in their prime.

Leicester City’s title championship in 2015-16 pierced the oligarchy of Manchester and London giants atop the Premier League. The surge in media money flowing through the league and the rapidly evolving tactics will see more mid-table and bottom-half teams making runs into the top four over the coming years.

Just as the Premier League has more parity and depth across its table than any other league, the next decade may see a similar flattening of teams’ finances as “any given Sunday” impacts many more clubs’ bottom line.

Next: Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi are the striking pair Chelsea needs

Arsenal should watch out for the day that Chelsea overtakes them on the list. American teams and leagues should do likewise as the Premier League looks to occupy more spots among the most valuable sports teams.