SACRAMENTO-

While tweets and other social media postings seem to indicate the Sacramento Kings are putting the sale value at up to $525 million, is the struggling team really worth that much money?

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” said Sanjay Varshney, business dean at Sacramento State University.

Varshney is an expert on Sacramento’s regional economy and has followed the saga of the Sacramento Kings and its owners.  He says it’s difficult to put a value on a professional sports team because there are so many variables. That includes the intrinsic value to the community, the number of star players it has, revenue streams available to the ownership and whether buyers covet the team.

According to Forbes Magazine, which tracks the value of NBA teams, the Los Angeles Lakers were worth $900 million at the beginning of 2012.  It had surpassed the New York Knicks at $780 million.  Eighth on the list is the Golden State Warriors whose worth of $450 million was confirmed when it was purchased for that amount in 2010.

At number 23 out of 30 NBA teams are the Sacramento Kings.  The magazine puts their value at $300 million, based on $6.4 million in yearly revenue.  But that’s before player salaries went up and attendance went down.  The value is also directly linked to the number of star players it has, and the Kings don’t have many.

What will raise its value is the number of bidders who want the team and how deep their pockets are.  Varshney says the value of the Kings rise if it’s moved to Seattle where there is potentially more broadcasting revenue.