LAFC, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami Top Sportico’s 2025 List of Most Valuable MLS Teams

Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVJanuary 30, 2025

ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images

The presence of Lionel Messi wasn’t enough to make Inter Miami the most valuable MLS franchise for 2025.

Los Angeles FC retained that title with a total valuation of $1.28 billion, per Sportico. Inter Miami did at least vault into the No. 2 spot ($1.19 billion). Atlanta United ($1.08 billion) fell two places to No. 4.

Sportico @SporticoHere’s how the top 5 rounded out 👀⤵️@LAFC @InterMiamiCF @LAGalaxy @ATLUTD @newyorkcityfc

Check out the full list: https://t.co/ms4FWZs1n7 pic.twitter.com/VWy39U9cI4

Five MLS teams are estimated to be worth $1 billion or more, with New York City FC becoming the newest member of the group. When Sportico first conducted this exercise in 2021, nobody reached that threshold. LAFC was the closest at $860 million.

Another sign of MLS’ robust financial health is that the people behind San Diego FC had to pay a $500 million expansion fee in 2023, up from the $325 million it took to make Charlotte FC a reality in 2019.

MLS still has a long way to go to be considered one of the top soccer leagues in the world, and it may never actually get there. Money alone doesn’t make up for the years and decades of history the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and others have established.

But the 10-figure valuations speak for themselves.

For a long time, American soccer fans have lamented the absence of a traditional promotion/relegation system in the country. Being a closed league has helped set MLS apart in another way, though.

Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen detailed last May how prospective investors were drawn to MLS in part because they don’t have to face the threat that a relegation would pose. Dropping into a second division would mean less prestige and much less revenue. With MLS, on the other hand, the bottom line doesn’t change too much regardless of whether you finish first or last.

The San Jose Earthquakes were comfortably the worst team in MLS, their 21 points putting them nine below Chicago Fire FC in 28th. The Earthquakes’ valuation on Sportico climbed by seven percent to $600 million.