Tottenham Hotspur cracks top ten on Forbes' list of most valuable clubs

Tottenham Hotspur are movin' on up the Premier League table, and as their fortunes increase, so too are their revenues. For the first time, Spurs have cracked the top ten of Forbes Magazine's list of most valuable football teams, coming in at #10. Forbes values Tottenham at just over a billion American dollars.

To put this in some context, in 2015 Tottenham were 13th on Forbes' list behind AC Milan, Dortmund, and Paris St. Germain, all clubs that are now below them in the list. That said, they have, as you would expect, only a third of the value of Barcelona and Real Madrid, and are the sixth valuable club in England, behind Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

The biggest takeaway from these numbers is that Spurs made a 69% one year increase in their value from last season, a staggering number and behind only West Ham (72% increase) in the top 20. Additionally, Spurs have only a 2% debt/value ratio, a factor that will no doubt go up dramatically as construction continues on the new stadium.

A big chunk of this increase is due to the increased revenue from the Premier League television deal, as well as more lucrative deals from shirt and other sponsorships. Also the increased payoffs for finishing towards the top of the Premier League has also increased, and Spurs have reaped those benefits as well.

And speaking of the stadium, this may be in fact the high water mark for Spurs on this list for a little while, as the club is expected to amass a great deal of debt as stadium construction continues. That said, a club like Tottenham jumping into the top ten shows that a lot of hard work over the past few years has paid off.

While Spurs have a long way to go to to catch up to the richest clubs in the league and their purchasing power, they've done just enough to get a seat at the table. When the new stadium is paid and the money starts rolling in, it wouldn't surprise me to see Spurs higher on the list.