By producing “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky and being home to iconic NHL franchises such as the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Canada has always been historically famed for its love of hockey.
However, with other sports on the rise in the country, our team at PlayOJO crunched the numbers to see which Canadian sporting franchises have grown the most in value over the last decade.
The data revealed that the NBA’s Toronto Raptors had their value increase by a whopping 665% in the last 10 years. In 2013, the Raptors were valued at $405 million; however, in 2023, they are worth over $3 billion dollars – a figure which has most likely been aided by a championship-winning run in 2019 and increasing revenue in the NBA.
The fastest growing sports franchises in Canada
The growth of soccer in North America has been well documented, and the arrival of arguably the greatest player of all time in Lionel Messi is a testament to the sport’s expansion. This is highlighted by the fact that the next three fastest growing Canadian sports franchises are all from the MLS.
Since 2013, Toronto FC had its value increase by nearly 500%, meanwhile Vancouver Whitecaps FC and CF Montréal had their values increase by 377% and 291%, respectively. Interestingly though, values for all MLS clubs did slightly decline in a 12-month spell from 2022-2023.
The seven Canadian NHL teams were all below others when looking at the value change over the last 10 years, although the hockey teams still had some strong figures. The Edmonton Oilers saw their value grow by 225% and the Canadiens’ value grew by 145% in the same time period.
The Maple Leafs had the second-lowest value increase in the country; however, the iconic hockey team can take some consolation in the fact they are the second-most valuable sporting franchise in Canada. The franchise’s 2023 worth of $2.12 billion is only beaten in by the Raptors.
Methodology
Valuation data for all Canadian sports franchises across the Big 5 North American professional sport leagues was collected over a 10-year spell between 2013 and 2023. The data was sourced from Forbes and Sportico. Data is presented in $USD. Year on Year (YoY) percentage change was calculated in Excel (2018).
