Mighty Ducks Score With Financial World : Business: Franchise, reportedly worth twice what Disney paid for it, is rated second-most valuable in NHL.

The Mighty Ducks--make that the Mighty Bucks--are the second most valuable franchise in the NHL and are worth more than twice what the Walt Disney Co. paid to enter the league in 1993, according to Financial World magazine, which has estimated the franchise’s value at $108 million.

Only the Detroit Red Wings are worth more, at $124 million, according to calculations by writer Michael Ozanian, whose annual estimation of professional sports teams’ values will appear in the magazine’s May 9 issue. The New York Rangers also are valued at $108 million.

“I’m disappointed,” Disney Sports Enterprises President Tony Tavares said, tongue in cheek. “I wanted to be No. 1.”

“Items like this are interesting, but unless a team’s for sale you don’t know what it’s worth. The bottom line is what someone’s willing to pay,” Tavares said. “In sports there’s no real bottom-line formula, where if you make a certain amount of money then eight or 10 or 12 times that is what it’s worth. There are franchises that lose five or six million a year that are worth $100 million.”

The Ducks are believed to have made about $9 million in the team’s first season, when they had the third-lowest payroll in the NHL, sold out 98.9% of capacity at The Pond of Anaheim, and led the league in merchandise sales.

The Kings, who have been beset by ownership problems and one of the NHL’s highest payrolls, ranked 10th in the NHL at $81 million. Jeffrey P. Sudikoff and Joseph M. Cohen paid $60 million last May to buy 72% interest in the team from Bruce McNall.

The magazine rated the Dallas Cowboys the most valuable team in pro sports, estimating the franchise’s worth at $238 million. The Rams were 17th at $153 million, and the Raiders were 24th at $145 million. The Detroit Pistons led the NBA at $180 million. The Lakers were third at $168 million and the Clippers were 23rd at $87 million.

In major league baseball, where the magazine considered losses brought on by the strike-shortened season, the New York Yankees were first, valued at $185 million. The Dodgers were seventh at $143 million and the Angels were 20th at $88 million.

NHL franchises generally bring up the rear in value, with seven valued at or below $50 million, the most recent expansion fee.

On the ice, the Ducks are still trying to wedge their way into the NHL’s top 16 teams and make the Stanley Cup playoffs. Off it, they vaulted to second after one year. The Florida Panthers, the Ducks’ expansion companions, ranked 23rd at $47 million.

The Disney investment has at least doubled in value, but by another calculation it has almost tripled.

Of the Ducks’ $50 million expansion fee, $25 million went to McNall as compensation for infringing on the Kings’ territory. As part of the team’s lease agreement with Ogden Facility Management, which operates The Pond, Ogden paid $12.5 million to McNall--reducing Disney’s initial investment to a mere $37.5 million.