The majority of professional sports teams own their exact match team .com domain names. In fact, of the 123 professional sports teams in the four major US sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL), 76 of them own their nickname .com domain name (61.7%).
I thought it would be fun to have a look at exact match team .com domain names to see which I think is the most valuable domain name. When it comes to “value,” I am strictly thinking about the generic nature of the domain name rather than the relation to the specific team or its branding strength. For instance, I think a domain name like Wild.com (owned by the NHL and Minnesota Wild) is a more valuable domain name than RedSox.com (owned by the Boston Red Sox).
Using the information from the article about sports team domain names I published yesterdat morning, I narrowed it down to my top 5 domain names. The list is not scientific by any stretch, and it is reflective of my personal opinion about valuation. Your list would likely be different than mine. Interestingly, if someone tried to use an automated tool like Estibot to figure out the values, that tool takes into account many aspects related to the actual team (such as Google references), and that would throw off the intrinsic value.
In my opinion, here are the top 5 most valuable domain names (in no particular order) owned by a sports team:
- Giants.com
- Wild.com
- Heat.com
- Kings.com
- Angels.com
In choosing the most valuable domain name, I would have to go with Heat.com. In terms of domain names that match team names but aren’t owned by the team, I think Bills.com or Jets.com are probably the most valuable domain names.
What do you think is the most valuable domain name, based on intrinsic value beyond the professional sports team brand?
I think the most valuable name not owned by the team is magic.com
Actually based on intrinsic value I’ll agree that jets.com and bills.com are probably the most valuable, but will add that as far as generic names go not owned by the team magic.com and jazz.com are both highly valuable and two of my favorites. .
I also like Magic.com and Jazz.com.
Thunder.com is also exceptional
SpaceX and Blue Origin might argue it’s Rockets.com 🙂
I like and own MajorLeagueSports.com. It covers all of my favorite sports teams, among others. 😉
Nice example of how a long three word domain is vastly more valuable than many much shorter ones including many one-worders and meaningless acronyms.
Agreed. You had me at valuable. 😉
Another great three word domain is Mike Mann’s WorldWideWeb.com.
I would love to own that domain name!
He got it amazingly cheap, I mean really amazingly.
Years ago the whois for that one was in a very odd location on a block way uptown in NYC. I’ve been on that block before and glanced over toward where the address would have been.
IMO the most valuable name not owned by the team is Cowboys.com; based on all the objective criteria I’ve read in Sports Business, Forbes.com, etc. And the back story on Cowboys.com Elliot wrote about, is a good script for a 30 minute ESPN short film for sure. The most valuable domain owned by a sports team is Yankees.com.
Among the best for sure, but I think it would be quite a stretch to say more valuable than jets, bills or magic.
You make a good point.
PrivateJets.com sold for $32 million in 2012. So, I’m sure Jets.com is worth more than that to the right end user. Bills.com would be a great buy for Expert Global Systems ‘the world’s largest debt collection company’. And if I had the ear of someone at Disney I would tell them to buy Magic.com since the Orlando Magic have no foresight.
I’m still shocked by the fact some of these obvious end users for these generics would rather pay $5 million for a Super Bowl commercial than own the EMD domain; even as brick and mortar retail collapses in the face of e-Commerce…
You make a good point.
PrivateJets.com was sold for $32 million in 2012. And Jets.com is surely worth more than that to the right end user. Likewise, Bills.com could be a perfect asset match for Expert Global Systems, the world’s largest debt collection company. Some of these end users still have no foresight even in the middle of a brick & mortar collapse retail. Amazon and Netflix has taught most of corporate America nothing.
Chargers.com is worth more than the football team…Hint to Elon Musk.
That is also a really good one.
It’s Jets
Jets for sure and I would definitely put Cowboys second.