Forbes reveals top-50 most valuable sports teams – with No. 1 worth over $10b and Chiefs way down in 39th
Billionaire Jerry Jones has two job titles at the Dallas Cowboys: owner and general manager.
And while he struggles in his role as the latter, his success as the former is unquestionable.
For the ninth year in a row, America’s Team tops the Forbes Top 50 list of the most valuable franchises in sports, with a record valuation of $10.1 billion – up 12.1 percent from 2023 and $9.96 billion more than Jones bought the team in 1989.
This will obviously not change the current situation of the team. Dallas is just 5-8 and Cowboys fans are calling on Jones to resign as GM, fire Mike McCarthy as head coach and significantly rework the roster.
Despite all these issues, the five-time Super Bowl champions are valued at $1.3 billion more than the closest team on Forbes’ list, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who are worth an estimated $8.8 billion in total came in second place.
Oddly enough, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs only rank 39th with $4.85 billion. Andy Reid’s team currently plays in a 52-year-old stadium and does so in the 34th largest media market in the country.
Jerry Jones is undeniably successful as an owner, but he has struggled as GM of the Cowboys
Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion also made the top 50
The NBA is currently dealing with Nielsen ratings issues in the regular season, but that hasn’t stopped league teams from rising in value thanks to a new media deal. Now, NBA teams are estimated to be worth an average of $4.4 billion – an increase of 15 percent from last year and a whopping 596 percent from a decade earlier.
Major League Baseball, meanwhile, dropped two teams from the top 50 in the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. Similarly, Formula 1’s two representatives on the Forbes Top 50 list, Mercedes and Ferrari, have both fallen off the board.
Forbes is quick to point out that football teams still have a greater global reach than US-based franchises, which benefit from better commercialization.
For example, the NBA’s new media deal is reportedly worth $76 billion over the next eleven seasons, which amounts to $230 million per year per team.
And that’s nothing compared to the NFL’s media deal, which gives clubs $380 million in television revenue each season. In total, this amounts to $125.5 billion for the 2033 season.
By comparison, La Liga’s Atlético Madrid had total revenue of just $382 million last season. According to Forbes, that club is now worth $5.1 billion.
All told, the top 50 teams are worth nearly $300 billion, which is up 13 percent from last year.
The New York Yankees ranked first among MLB teams with $7.5 billion, while Real Madrid was the top soccer team with $6.6 billion and Manchester United led all EPL teams with $6.5 billion.
No NHL, WNBA, MLS or Formula 1 team made the top 50.