As a business, the San Diego Chargers are worth $1.53 billion — 53 percent more than last year, according to an estimate released Monday by Forbes.

The team’s operating profit increased by 62 percent in a single year to $64.8 million in 2014, powered by $39 million for each team in higher national TV and licensing revenues.

Commentary More columns about Business by Dan McSwain

From my perspective, the dramatic surge in value provides insight into several questions I often get about the incentives facing Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos, who doesn’t comment publicly on the team’s finances:

Q: If Spanos makes so much money in San Diego, why move to Carson?

A: Because moving could make his family vastly richer.

Los Angeles is the nation’s second-largest broadcast market, with 5.7 million “TV homes” according to the Nielsen ratings service. San Diego ranks 28th with 1 million, near Indianapolis.

Although the NFL splits national broadcast fees evenly, all those L.A. eyeballs can deliver spectacular local revenues an owner gets to keep.

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Maximizing this market advantage requires building a new stadium, stuffed with luxury boxes and multimedia features — just the sort of $1.7 billion project Spanos has proposed in Carson, with or without the Raiders as partner.

The San Francisco 49ers prove the point. In 2014, the team’s first year in its $1.2 billion stadium, local revenues jumped 160 percent from the previous year in Candlestick Park.

And the team generated $1 billion in ticket and sponsorship dollars before playing its first game last year, according to Forbes. That’s how the 49ers’ new stadium was built with little public funding.

Top 5 NFL teams based on value 1. Dallas Cowboys $4B 2. New England Patriots $3.2B 3. Washington Redskins $2.85B 4. New York Giants $2.8B 5. San Francisco 49ers $2.7B Bottom 5 NFL teams based on value 1. St. Louis Rams $1.45B 2. Cincinnati Bengals $1.45B 3. Detroit Lions $1.44B 4. Oakland Raiders $1.43B 5. Buffalo Bills $1.4B Source: Forbes

Now the team’s estimated value has jumped 69 percent in a single year to $2.7 billion, ranked fifth in the league. At $123.7 million, the 49ers operating income in 2014 was more than 50 percent higher than the Chargers (ranked 22nd in team value).

Of course, the Chargers can’t take such a windfall for granted in Los Angeles. The city hasn’t had an NFL team in 20 years, and the Raiders and Rams struggled before they left.

Then again, the L.A. market is more than double the size of San Francisco’s, which supports the Raiders and 49ers. And the NFL has grown dramatically over two decades. It’s arguably among the world’s most valuable brands.

Certainly, some people say Spanos either can’t borrow the cash for a Carson stadium, or he will fail to build a profitable L.A. fan base. This list of skeptics doesn’t appear to include billionaire Stan Kroenke, the sports mogul trying to convince the NFL to instead let him build a $2 billion stadium in Inglewood and move his Rams.

Q: O.K., so new stadiums generate lots of cash. Why can’t Spanos just build one privately in San Diego?

A: Given the earnings potential, he probably can afford it — but he may not have to. Cities still compete for NFL franchises.

Public officials in St. Louis and San Antonio show willingness to put taxpayer dollars into NFL stadiums, without insisting on clear economic returns.

In San Diego, Mayor Kevin Faulconer has offered a “framework” to contribute $200 million in taxpayer-supported bonds. County Supervisor Ron Roberts has offered $150 million, presumably from the county’s general fund.

I’m skeptical that they can convince ordinary voters or the City Council and Board of Supervisors. On the other hand, the idea is less expensive for taxpayers than the most recent small-market precedent, a 50-50 private-public deal the Minnesota Vikings secured to build their new stadium.

Sure, recent privately funded projects in New York and San Francisco show that NFL owners will shoulder nearly all the construction costs. But they’ve refused in smaller markets, and public officials have gone along.

Q: Why doesn’t Spanos just sell a piece of the team to finance a new stadium in San Diego?

A: Because an NFL team is great business, too good to sell unless you desperately need cash. The Spanos family paid $70 million for the Chargers in 1984. If Forbes’ value is correct (it could very well be low), the family’s investment compounded at an average 10.8 percent a year over three decades.

Stock market wonks may find this underwhelming, because the S&P 500 index returned 11.22 percent annually over roughly the same period, if you reinvested dividends. But Spanos presumably pulled out earnings, too.

And the NFL gravy train has been accelerating in recent years, fueled by an expanding portfolio of revenue streams from broadcasting to fantasy football to digital streaming deals. As Forbes notes, the league recently signed a $1 billion deal with Verizon that pegs revenue to each digital device instead of the platform deals other sports leagues have pursued.

Overall, the average NFL team increased in value by 38 percent this year. (The Forbes analysts rely on public and private sources.)

Last year’s blockbuster $1.4 billion sale of the Buffalo Bills appears to have boosted the potential market values of the league’s 10 least profitable teams, which besides the Chargers include other Los Angeles wannabes such as the Rams and Raiders.

Warren Buffett famously says the first rule of investing is to avoid losing money. Given the state of global financial markets, it’s hard to make a case for cashing in your team.

This could change. Some people say an “NFL bubble” is forming that could begin deflating with the Christmas Day release of a film drama starring Will Smith blowing the whistle on football concussions.

Then again, the league’s more ambitious owners dream of expanding American football to a world market.

In the meantime, local taxpayers would also be wise to remember the NFL’s other traditional rule of investing: Always use somebody else’s money for stadiums, if possible.