CHART: Sale Of Los Angeles Clippers Will Change How Sports Franchises Are Valued

Shelly Sterling has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Clippers for what would be a record sale price of $2 billion, far outdistancing the most recent valuation of the franchise by Forbes.com of $575 million.

While Forbes.com appears to have missed the mark on the Clippers, it may not be as bad as it appears.

Ultimately, the value of the team is whatever somebody is willing to pay. But more importantly, the Clippers were an awful franchise for 30 years and Steve Ballmer's $2 billion bid says more about the potential of the franchise (location, upcoming television deal, etc.) than it does about the current value of the team.

Still, the difference between perceived current value and price paid is so out of whack with recent sales that Forbes.com is going to be forced to rethink valuations. Here is how those values have compared to sale prices in recent years.