Brooklyn Nets Ranked as the Sixth Most Valuable Team in the NBA

An exclusive interview with CNBC senior sports reporter Michael Ozanian to understand the Nets’ value.

Feb 10, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell (1) brings the ball up court against the Charlotte Hornets during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Brooklyn Nets are worth $5.6 billion and are the NBA’s sixth most valuable team, according to CNBC’s 2025 NBA team valuations.

The ranking is based on arenas, revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Sources include “team owners, investors and executives; sports bankers and league consultants; public documents [...]; stadium authority budgets and audits, and credit rating reports; and sponsorship and broadcasting industry executives.” An NBA team is worth $4.66 billion on average.

Nets On SI spoke with CNBC senior sports reporter Michael Ozanian to better understand Brooklyn’s ranking and the team’s valuation.

“What drives the pecking order within the league is largely a couple of things,” he said. “One is, what market are you in? [...] And then the other thing is arena economics. Are they really good?” 

The Nets do not own Barclays Center (it is owned by Empire State Development, the parent organization of the New York State Department of Economic Development), but they control the arena’s lease and economics. CNBC’s ranking does not factor in WNBA teams, but Ozanian said there is value in that for the Nets with the New York Liberty.

For instance, he said: “If I’m a sponsor and I’m going to be sponsoring with the Nets, but I also know that the arena is going to be filled with home games for the Liberty, and I’m going to be getting those nights packed with fans and also that demographic, I’m probably willing to pay more for my sponsorship.”

The Nets' debt as a percentage of value is currently 16%, the highest in the NBA. That is not worrying unless it rises above 25%, Ozanian said, who explained that Barclays Center had previously posted losses. Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report reported that Nets owner Joe Tsai “boosted” the arena with $52 million, $38 million and $18 million contributions in recent years.

For comparison across sports, the NFL’s debt limit is capped at $700 million for existing owners, and $1.2 billion for new buyers. The league’s debt limit has increased multiple times over the last decade as it adapts to rising team valuations and media revenue. The NBA has no formal debt cap.

Across the pond, it is more common for European soccer clubs — particularly the biggest, most known ones — to be affected by debt in a way that is uncommon in American sports. As of May 2024, FC Barcelona’s total debt was placed at more than $1 billion by The Athletic. In Dec. 2023, The Guardian reported it to be €1.2 billion. The club’s financial issues are so severe that it has had problems registering players on multiple occasions over the last few years.

Manchester United owed more than $1 billion, per The Athletic, just months before British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, also the chairman and founder of INEOS, became a minority shareholder of the club in 2024. The club’s total debt is currently at £731 million, with around two-thirds ($650 million) coming in U.S. dollars. The interest payments related to that debt are “gradually increasing,” which could gradually affect the entire club’s well-being. 

Relatedly, European clubs also have less stability compared to the NBA’s closed league without relegations or promotions. Manchester United, which has won a record 20 league titles in England, is currently 15th (out of 20) in the Premier League. That means another year not qualifying for the Champions League, which means missing out on the broadcast revenue gained through playing in Europe’s best competition. That could never happen to an NBA team, regardless of how badly a season went. The Washington Wizards, currently 9-45, are not going to get relegated to the G League.

Media rights have also lifted the NBA's value as a whole. The league is kicking off an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal next season. CNBC said that the new deal is worth “nearly 160% more” a year than the league's current package.

At this point, there is an argument to be made that owning an NBA team has generally been a worthwhile investment. The worth of the Memphis Grizzlies, who rank last in CNBC’s valuations, has “increased at a 19% annual rate” since Robert Pera bought the team for $377 million in 2012.

Ozanian said: “I think if you want to decide whether or not NBA teams are going to be a great investment going forward, what you have to first decide is — given the fact that local TV rights, principally regional sports networks — since those payments are going down because of cord cutting, will the increase in national media rights and the increase in sponsorship revenue [...] offset the decrease in local media?”

Brooklyn’s local TV rights package is with the YES Network. YES also has the rights to the Liberty’s WNBA games. The network has televised Nets games since its inception in 2002. The panorama around the NBA isn’t quite as rosy, with commissioner Adam Silver calling the regional sports networks model “broken” last September. 18 of the NBA’s regional partners were defunct or in bankruptcy.

He added: “In my opinion, they will continue to. In other words, the amount of revenue [...] is going to increase from sponsorships, ticketing and so forth. [It] will likely exceed the decrease in the fall in local media, so values should continue to go up. [...] There are factors outside of the NBA that could dictate that. How well is the overall economy gonna be doing? Where is inflation? But there are certainly a lot of people today, I can tell you, that are interested in investing in the NBA. That, I know, as a fact.”

The NBA could eventually, although how soon remains unclear, add more teams. Las Vegas and Seattle seem like the frontrunners for an expansion, with the NBA “technically still studying the idea,” per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. In July, Bloomberg reported that a team in Las Vegas could cost close to $7 billion, calling an upcoming bidding war the most competitive and expensive deal in American sports history.

Ozanian said that the $7 billion evaluation is possible depending on the team’s arena and subsequent arena economics. That would mean the NBA Vegas organization getting revenue from suites, sponsorships, hospitality and more.

“At CNBC, we just valued the [Golden State] Warriors at $9.4 billion. The reason why they’re so high is — [despite] their very small local TV deal, [in] the lower half of the league — because of their arena economics,” he said. “They get about twice as much revenue from arena sponsorships than any other team in the NBA. All you have to do to see how well a building can do out there is look at the Las Vegas Raiders.”

---

Want to join the discussion? Like Nets on SI on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Nets news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.