Forbes’ list of NFL valuations for the 2017 season were released on Monday and the results are a mixed bag for the San Francisco 49ers.
The good news is that the franchise is still ranked has the fifth most valuable in the NFL, with their current value of $3.05 billion bested only by the Cowboys (4.8 B), Patriots (3.7 B), Giants (3.3 B) and Redskins (3.1). The not so great news, however, is that the 49ers’ two percent increase in value from last year is the second smallest amongst NFL teams, which has led to San Francisco falling from 4th to 5th in the standings since 2016.
Here’s Forbes’ evaluation:
Levi’s Stadium hosted more non-NFL events in its first three years than any other new stadium. Top events included Wrestlemania, the NHL Outdoor Game, the Pac-12 title game and several big-name concerts. The stadium generated more than $8.5 million for the city coffers in its first two years. But on the gridiron, the fall of the 49ers has been swift. After three straight conference championship games and a Super Bowl appearance between 2011 and 2013 under coach Jim Harbaugh, the Niners opened their $1.2 billion new stadium in Santa Clara for the 2014 season. The last two seasons have been a disaster with only seven wins in 32 games. Coaches Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly both lasted only one season. Fans aren’t happy and some have dumped their Stadium Builders Licenses on the secondary market and recouped less than half their cost. The 49ers required season ticket holders to buy SBLs costing as much as $20,000 per seat to fund Levi’s Stadium. Sales of the SBLs raised $553 million. The team hired new coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in the offseason. Both received six-year contracts to engineer the large rebuilding effort necessary. The 49ers will pay more than $15 million to Shanahan and their two recently fired head coaches in 2017.
Across the bay, the Raiders saw a huge spike from 2016 to 2017 — increasing 13 percent from $2.1 B to $2.38 B — now the 19th highest mark in the NFL. The Raiders’ increase in value is the fourth highest over the past year.