The NFL has some of the highest-valued sports franchises in the entire world, including the number one most wealthy franchise the Dallas Cowboys. This is now the 18th year in a row that Dallas has taken the top spot of all NFL teams as the most valuable franchise.
Dallas Cowboys Exceed $10 Billion, But Who Is Next
The Cowboys officially crossed the 10 Billion dollar threshold this year per Justin Teitelbaum of Forbes, specifically, they are now worth $10.1 billion. This is the first professional sports franchise to reach this mark.
Dallas saw their value rise by 12% from last season, and per Bleacher Report:
The Cowboys have an operating income of $564 million, which is nearly double the next closest team.
The team had brought in $800 million in local revenue last season, and that was more than double the next closest teams! While Jerry Jones may get hate for how he runs his football program, he is one of the most brilliant men in sports history from a business perspective.
After Jerry’s Cowboys, here is the full top 10 most valuable teams in the NFL:
- Dallas Cowboys: $10.1 billion
- Los Angeles Rams: $7.6 billion
- New England Patriots: $7.4 billion
- New York Giants: $7.3 billion
- New York Jets: $6.9 billion
- San Francisco 49ers: $6.8 billion
- Las Vegas Raiders: $6.7 billion
- Philadelphia Eagles: $6.6 billion
- Chicago Bears: $6.4 billion
- Washington Commanders: $6.3 billion
Dallas has had exponential growth as the NFL has over the decades per Forbes:
Back in 1998, the Cowboys were worth $413 million, and they have seen an incredible 2,346 percent increase since then. Even since as recently as 2020, the Cowboys’ worth has increased by 77 percent.
Where Are The Kansas City Chiefs?
The NFL is the most profitable organization in sports around the world as the average for each team’s worth is at $5.7 billion, and even the bottom of the list in the Cincinnati Bengals are worth $4.1 billion.
Forbes noted that every NFL team is profitable with operating income of at least $56 million for each franchise, which is something the NBA and MLB can’t even say.
The driving force behind the NFL’s profitability is its plethora of television and streaming deals with CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox, NBC and YouTube. Those contracts generate about $380 million in revenue per team.
It is truly crazy to think how profitable the league is across the board in comparison to the other American leagues.
What may jump off the top ten list, is where the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs are on the list, and why are they not in the top 10? What is one of the most interesting factors from a business perspective, is that on-field winning does not necessarily translate to more money and a higher valuation for a team.
In the top ten, only four of those teams made the postseason in 2023. The Chiefs come in as the 24th-most valuable team at $4.85 billion. What does not make as much sense, is after the money that Taylor Swift brought in for the team in addition to being the dynasty of the modern NFL, that they would be so low on this list.
It follows that the Cowboys, the most valuable team, have not won the Super Bowl in decades. Winning has less to do with evaluation than one may think. Are you surprised by these rankings? What jumps out the most to you as a fan?
Related: How The 2020 NFL Quarterback Class Is Already Raking in Insane Money ($1.25 billion)
