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The people at Forbes Magazine took a look at the valuation of Major League Soccer teams and to the shock of no one, the Colorado Rapids were dead last in valuation ranking. Here is the ranking (in millions) of the 18 Major League Soccer teams (Orlando City and New York City FC were not considered as they are expansion teams)
| Team | Valuation (in Millions) |
| Seattle Sounders | 245 |
| LA Galaxy | 240 |
| Houston Dynamo | 200 |
| Portland Timbers | 185 |
| Toronto FC | 175 |
| Sporting Kansas City | 165 |
| Chicago Fire | 160 |
| New England Revolution | 158 |
| FC Dallas | 146 |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 145 |
| Philadelphia Union | 145 |
| New York Red Bulls | 144 |
| D.C. United | 140 |
| Montreal Impact | 128 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 125 |
| Columbus Crew SC | 112 |
| Real Salt Lake | 108 |
| Colorado Rapids | 105 |
At least we were over the 100 million mark...
Some other figures that are important that Forbes released: revenue and operating income (or loss). Again, these figures are in millions:
| Team | Revenue (in Millions) | Operating Income/Loss (in Millions) |
| Seattle Sounders | 50 | 10 |
| LA Galaxy | 44 | 4 |
| Houston Dynamo | 26 | 5 |
| Portland Timbers | 35 | 4 |
| Toronto FC | 32 | -7 |
| Sporting Kansas City | 29 | 4 |
| Chicago Fire | 21 | -6 |
| New England Revolution | 25 | 7 |
| FC Dallas | 25 | -3 |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 13 | -1 |
| Philadelphia Union | 25 | 2 |
| New York Red Bulls | 22 | -9 |
| D.C. United | 21 | -1 |
| Montreal Impact | 22 | -3 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 21 | -6 |
| Columbus Crew SC | 18 | -4 |
| Real Salt Lake | 17 | 1 |
| Colorado Rapids | 15 | -3 |
Now, I have a degree in Human Resource Management, but even I know that when your operating income is actually a loss, that is not good. No one goes into business to lose money and based on these figures, the Rapids are doing just that.
I think it is important to remember that every market is different and what in one city does not necessarily mean it will work in Denver.
How do the Rapids look in 2014 compared to 2012?
This tweet was sent out earlier today by Matthew Tomaszewicz comparing 2012 and 2014 figures:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Better perhaps to show a parallel of club value to previous? Forbes 2012 vs 2014 MLS club value list (cc <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexiLalas">@AlexiLalas</a>) <a href="http://t.co/66qnGpC9TE">pic.twitter.com/66qnGpC9TE</a></p>— Matthew Tomaszewicz (@shinguardian) <a href="https://twitter.com/shinguardian/status/634092854290317312">August 19, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When I look at these figures the Rapids valuation went from $76 million to $105 million in two years (a 38% increase) while revenue decreased from $18.1 million to $15 million (a 20% decrease) and operating income went from -2.9 million in 2012 to -3 million in 2014.
So the good: the valuation of the franchise. This confirms the overall trend that MLS franchises are increasing in value.
The Bad: the Rapids revenue and income figures are still some of the worst in the league. The revenue figure is just abysmal and the fact that they are still losing money is not good. I have heard a lot of chatter about getting KSE out of the Rapids, but if the Rapids don't start making money, that could happen. And that is not necessarily a good thing