Rams Among Forbes Most Profitable Sports Franchises Worldwide
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If you need an idea of why owner Stan Kroenke was so hell-bent on moving the Rams franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles, a new Forbes piece may offer insight into his logic.
According to a new study done by Mike Ozanian of Forbes, the Rams franchise had a $318 million operating income between 2019 and 2021, making them the 11th-highest-earning franchise over that period:
The only NFL franchises that had a higher operating income over this three-year span were the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Houston Texans, and New York Giants. It is noted in the Forbes piece that part of the operating income of each NFL team includes the new TV deal reached with CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN in 2021, which netted each franchise $198 million.
Kroenke privately funded the $5 billion So-Fi Stadium, the home of the Rams (which the Chargers are also tenants in) that opened in September of 2020. And when the NFL reached a $790 million settlement with St. Louis for taking their franchise west, Kroenke was left to pay $571 million of that. There's a very real chance that Kroenke himself has been in the red in recent years, even if his team has been profitable.
Then again, Forbes estimates that the Rams owner is worth $12.9 billion, so it probably doesn't matter, especially when So-Fi Stadium will likely be the 75-year-old's legacy.
The stadium itself is immaculate, and while it wasn't built with public funding, it will certainly be a profitable venture over its lifetime. The state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood has already hosted a Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship Game and Wrestlemania.
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