“I’m not sure that they have the worst operating income in the NBA, but they’re close,” said Hadrian Shaw, founder and owner of Shaw Sports Business.

The findings have upheld some industry experts’ expectations while surprising others.

Forbes magazine consistently ranks the Bucks among the five or 10 least-valued teams in the NBA, according to James Pokrywczinski, associate professor of Advertising and Public Relations. Forbes’ methods for determining each NBA franchise’s value are generally sound, Pokrywczinski said.

“This study is potentially the only study to ever show the Bucks as the least valued team in the NBA,” said Paul Anderson, director of Marquette’s National Sports Law Institute. “I’d be shocked to hear that the Bucks are worth less than the (Toronto) Raptors or Memphis (Grizzlies).”

The most reliable numbers for determining the worth of NBA franchises come from publications such as Forbes and Sports Venue magazines, Anderson said.

Shaw Sports Report “is not one of the standard sources, and I’ve been in this business for years,” Anderson said.

Shaw, however, defends his methods for determining the value of the Bucks franchise.

“What I looked at for the Bucks was the same as for other NBA teams,” Shaw said. Though he declined to discuss the specifics of how exactly he determined the value of the Bucks franchise, Shaw listed ticket sales, television fees, concessions, merchandise revenue, luxury suite income, NBA royalties and playoff money as part of the basis for his evaluation.

Shaw pointed to several factors that lead to a low franchise value for the Bucks.

“Number one, they’re a small market, but bigger than that, they don’t have lease control over the Bradley Center,” Shaw said.

He pointed out that the Bradley Center, 1001 N. 4th St., has no club seats — typically a lucrative source of income for other NBA franchises — and said the age of the facility hurts the franchise’s value.

The Bradley Center, which is also a venue for the Milwaukee Admirals and Marquette men’s basketball team, opened in 1988. It seats 18,600 people for basketball events.

Pokrywczinksi said the Bucks’ lagging ticket sales have probably hurt their franchise value.

“The Bucks had a string of years where they were good to very good, but for the last three to five years, the results haven’t matched expectations and fans began to lose interest,” Pokrywczinksi said.

All professional sports franchises, with the possible exception of football teams, rely on walk-up traffic to provide ticket revenues, he said. The Bucks’ poor on-court performance in the past few years has hurt fan interest, which in turn decreases walk-up traffic.

John Steinmiller, vice president of business operations for the Bucks, said he had not seen the report and would not comment on it.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) owns the Milwaukee Bucks. He unsuccessfully tried to sell the franchise last year for an undisclosed amount of money. The franchise has a season ticket base of over 8,000, though Steinmiller declined to divulge the exact number.