Rockets Rank No. 8 in NBA Franchise Valuation at $2.4 Billion
The NBA's franchise valuations were released on Tuesday, with the Rockets checking in at $2.47 billion, according to Forbes.
The Rockets reportedly generated $348 million in revenue last season. The franchise is worth 7% more than last year.
Houston owner Tilman Fertitta bought the Rockets in September 2017, paying a then-record $2.2 million for the Rockets. Fertitta's purchase surpassed the $2 billion mark spent by Steve Ballmer to buy the Clippers from Donald Sterling in 2014. Former owner Leslie Alexander oversaw two championships and 16 playoff appearances in his tenure from 1993-2017.
Houston is reportedly the league's eighth-most valuable franchise, directly trailing the Nets and Clippers, per Forbes. The Knicks are the league's most valuable franchise at $4.6 billion, followed by the Lakers and Warriors. No other team reached a $4 billion valuation in 2019.
Franchise values reportedly soared throughout the league in 2018, with franchise values, "up 14% in the past year to an average of $2.12 billion," per Forbes' Kurt Badenhausen.
The NBA's relationship with China–a major television partner–underwent a rocky stretch to close 2019 following a tweet from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of protestors in Hong Kong. China began to stop showing games on its national television network CCTV, and a slate of promotional events in China were cancelled during the preseason. But the international incident is unlikely to affect the NBA's bottom line.
"Most sports business executives think Morey’s tweet will have little long-term impact on the NBA’s business in China," Badenhausen wrote on Tuesday.
