Redskins valued at $1 billion

The Washington Redskins likely will receive an estimated franchise value of about $1billion by Forbes Magazine when its annual financial ranking of NFL teams hits newsstands late next week, industry sources said.

Forbes’ closely watched rankings corroborate a report from industry publication SportsBusiness Journal, which cites financial sources valuing all of the Redskins’ holdings, including FedEx Field, at up to $1.5billion.

The Redskins’ numbers are easily the highest in U.S. sports history, and substantially beat the $800million owner Daniel Snyder paid for the holdings more than four years ago. The Redskins have been the most valuable sports team in America since 2000, according to Forbes.

Fueling the increased value are the Redskins’ rising revenue streams, now amounting to more than $250million a year, and a recent sale of about 20percent of the Redskins’ equity for $200million to FedEx chairman Fred Smith, local real estate executive Dwight Schar and Florida insurance executive Robert Rothman.

The transfer of equity, which includes no controlling interest, is set to be formally approved by NFL owners this week. NFL owners have until Friday to vote on the transfer electronically, but there are no outstanding issues since the league’s finance committee already has unanimously approved the deal.

British soccer power Manchester United briefly hit $1billion in total stock value in 1998, but now stands nowhere near that figure.