Cowboys,Yankees top Man United as world’s most valued teams
NEW YORK: With the NFL’s top sponsorship and premium seating revenues, the Dallas Cowboys were named the world’s most valuable sports team Wednesday by Forbes magazine in its annual top-50 ranking.
The Cowboys, who have not won a Super Bowl since 1996, jumped five percent in value to $4.2 billion to defend their 2016 position. Last year they unseated Spanish football powerhouse Real Madrid atop the global list.
The 32-team NFL is the world’s richest league, with an average operating profit of $91 million and no club turning less than a $26 million profit. A major reason for that was the latest NFL television package bringing annual revenues of $7 billion.
The Cowboys also boast a $1.5 billion team practice facility and headquarters that will become a retail and entertainment complex with hotels, a medical center and a convention center. An exclusive club offers members the chance to watch Cowboys players workouts.
Only three NFL clubs missed the 50-team Forbes richest roll call — the Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills.
Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees ranked second on $3.7 billion, a nine percent boost from last WASHINGTON: The IRS still has Floyd Mayweather Jr. on the hook for $7.2 million in taxes from 2010, according to records that show a lien as unresolved for the year he fought Shane Mosley.
That is on top of the $22.2 million the undefeated boxer nicknamed “Money” owes in 2015 taxes for the year he earned $200 million to fight Manny Pacquiao. He brushed off the tax debt in comments to reporters on Tuesday at the start of his tour to promote an Aug. 26 boxing match against Irish MMA star Conor McGregor.
Mayweather’s public bravado about his wealth does not match up with county records in Las Vegas and his own petition to the US Tax Court in Washington.
A petition filed by Mayweather last week argues that as wealthy as he is, he does not have the cash on hand to pay his debt for 2015. The IRS refused a direct request by the fighter to pay in installments until he is paid for the fight, and the agency said it intends to levy Mayweather.
It is the latest in a cycle for Mayweather, who paid $15.5 million in taxes for 2001, 20032007 and 2009 only after the IRS filed liens against him, according to documents filed to the Clark County Recorder in Las Vegas.
Mayweather’s tax attorney did not return messages seeking comment from The Associated Press. Mayweather’s business manager, Leonard Ellerbe, declined to answer questions about the tax debt, referring an AP reporter to comments the attorney, Jeffrey Morse, made to a Mayweather-affiliated website.
Morse told Fighthype.com that Mayweather can make more money by paying his taxes late.
“Floyd’s a savvy investor and if he is investing money and getting a rate of return that far exceeds what he has to pay the IRS in interest, then any smart business person is going to take advantage of that deferral,” Morse said. “So we’ve taken advantage of that.”
The tax court filing, obtained by the AP on Wednesday, said that although Mayweather “has substantial assets, those assets year. They boast $120 million in sponsorships and $130 million in premium seat revenues, top in the major leagues. In all, eight major league clubs made the Forbes list.
Manchester United ranked a close third on $3.69 billion, hurdling Spanish rivals Barcelona ($3.64 billion) and Real Madrid ($3.58 billion). Barca was up two percent to stand fourth, Real off by the same amount in fifth overall.
In all, seven global football clubs made the list, the others being Bayern Munich, 15th on $2.71 billion; Manchester City, 35th on $2.08 are restricted and primarily illiquid.” It says he has a “significant liquidity event” within the next two months — his fight with McGregor — which could earn him a huge purse depending on pay-per-view sales, though likely not the $200 million he got for the Pacquiao fight.
The petition to tax court is an effective stalling tactic because the court moves slowly and would need to send a judge to Nevada to hear the case, said Don Williamson, a professor and chair of the accounting department at American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington.
“They won’t rule until after the fight. They don’t turn these things around in 30 days,” Williamson said.
However, the IRS could still seek to withhold Mayweather’s purse from the fight by arguing that he wouldn’t pay his taxes otherwise, a claim the agency would have to prove in court, Williamson said.
The IRS sent Nevada boxing regulators a levy notice in 2009, ordering that $5.6 million in unpaid taxes be deducted from Mayweather’s $10 million purse as he came out of his first retirement to fight Juan Manuel Marquez. The tax agency backed off only after Mayweather agreed to pay the money.
The Nevada Athletic Commission did not return messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
In the tax court filing, Mayweather claims it would be too much trouble to “disturb” his investments and that the IRS would not be disadvantaged by letting him pay in installments.
McGregor used the tax issue to needle his opponent at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
“The reason he has accepted this fight to come out of retirement is because he has to,” McGregor said. “He’s in a dire situation. That is not a good situation to be in.”
Mayweather told reporters he “already took care” of his taxes.
“I ain’t worried about that,” he said. billion; Arsenal, 43rd on $1.93 billion and Chelsea, 46th on $1.85 billion.
The reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots were sixth on the list at $3.4 billion, jumping six percent with their run to the NFL title.
Topping NBA clubs in seventh overall were the New York Knicks on $3.3 billion, up 10 percent in value but still weaklings on the court at 31-51. They have not had a playoff berth or winning season since 2013 and have won only one playoff series since 2000.