Forbes ranks the Orioles as the 19th most valuable franchise in 2017

[Frobby]

https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45gfllm/19-baltimore-orioles/

The value of the franchise is up 18% from last year, but they dropped two spots in the rankings. Just goes to show you how profitable baseball is right now.    The article notes that attendance was down but TV ratings were way up (4th highest in MLB).

[ArtVanDelay]

Seems weird to be below the Pirates. 

[Frobby]

Here's the overall article on the state of the industry:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2017/04/11/baseball-team-values-2017/#5aeee9b24515      This was interesting:

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By our count, only the Detroit Tigers (-$36.4 million), Dodgers (-$20.5 million), Miami Marlins (-$2.2 million), Baltimore Orioles (-$2.1 million) and Kansas City Royals (-$0.9 million) had operating losses last season.

Note, however, that the Orioles' stake in MASN is not included in these figures (but the rights fees are).  

Also, there's this:
 

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Major League Baseball Advanced Media, owned equally by each of MLB’s 30 teams, was formed in 2000 with the dual mandate of providing baseball fans in all markets with great technology and creating a valuable asset. With new partnerships ranging from League of Legends and Discovery Communications, to ESPN and the NHL, to say those objectives were met would be a gross understatement. BAMTech (now two-thirds owned by MLB as a result of separate deals last year with Disney and the NHL) is worth around $3.5 billion, and MLBAM, excluding BAMTech, is worth approximately $12 billion.

Thus, baseball’s stakes in BAMTech and MLBAM likely contribute between $400 million to $500 million in value to each of baseball’s 30 teams.