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Maple Leafs NHL's lone rep on Forbes most valuable teams list

People love lists. And nobody loves to crank 'em out quite like the folks over at Forbes.

Their latest argument-inducing compendium? A ranking of the world's 50 most valuable sports franchises.

No surprise that the top 10 is heavy on futbol teams, football teams and baseball's New York Yankees. Or that hockey's first (and only) representative is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs clock in at No. 26 this year, valued at $1.15 billion. That's a solid jump from the 2013 list that placed the bumbling Buds 31st with a valuation of $1 billion—not long after they'd been sold to Bell and Rogers Communications for just over $2 billion. Apparently the franchise shed some value as soon as its new owners drove it off the lot.

The web site notes "the Leafs have been the NHL's most valuable team since 2005, despite missing the playoffs for nine straight years before qualifying in 2013." No mention of how the Leafs did in 2014. Guess we'll never know.