WrestleMania makes the Forbes 40 list of most valuable sports brands

Every year, Forbes publishes a list of the 40 most valuable sports brands. This year, for the first time, WWE has made the cut.

The list is a little different, in that the 40 is made up of the top ten in four different categories: sports businesses (such as leagues, apparel companies, networks, etc), events, teams and athletes.  It is WrestleMania, the premier pro wrestling event and WWE's flagship live show, that cracked the list, coming in as the eighth most valuable event:

A new member among Fab 40 events is WrestleMania, an annually staged event put on by WWE, the most successful professional wrestling promotion in the world. The WrestleMania brand is worth $105 million, placing it eighth among sporting events. In April, WrestleMania 30 broke the record for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome's highest grossing entertainment event, marking the fifth-consecutive year WrestleMania broke the host venue's single day revenue record.

Mania came in just behind Major League Baseball's World Series and just ahead of NASCAR's Daytona 500 events on the list.

It's a nice kudo for Vince McMahon and company.  Now get ready to hear about from Michael Cole and company about 40 times per episode of Raw for the next month, and again in the build-up to WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara, California next March.