The Dallas Cowboys have not been Super Bowl bound in 23 years, but their league-leading revenue ($864 million) makes them the NFL’s most valuable team even with a playoff win drought, according to Forbes Magazine. The Cowboys, worth $5 billion, a 4% increase from last year, retain the top spot for the 12th consecutive year. The Cowboys are the first sports team to reach a value of $5 billion. The New England Patriots ($3.8 billion), New York Giants ($3.3 billion), Los Angeles Rams ($3.2 billion) and Washington Redskins ($3.2 billion) round out the NFL’s top five most valuable teams.
The National Football League continues to be the most lucrative sports league in the world, according to Forbes’ 21st annual NFL Team Valuations.
The average NFL team is worth $2.57 billion, which is a 2% increase over last year. It is the smallest increase since 2010, when values decreased an average of 2%. “The reason for this year’s small increase is the dearth of people who have the liquid wealth to buy 30% of an NFL team,” says Assistant Managing Editor Mike Ozanian.
This is the 21st rendition of Forbes NFL valuations, during which time NFL values have climbed almost eight fold, at an 11.6% annual rate versus 4.5% for the S&P 500.