Once again- when it comes to dollars and cents, anyway- there is no entity in all of sports like America’s Team. Forbes has ranked the Dallas Cowboys the most valuable sports franchise on the planet for the sixth year in a row.
Despite a down year in which the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled some leagues’ seasons outright, wreaked havoc with scheduling, and forced teams to play before modest crowds (and often, completely empty stadiums), The average value of the 50 most valuable sports franchises jumped 9.9% from last year, according to the magazine’s Mike Ozanian.
Owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys lead the way financially, with a valuation on the team of $5.7 billion.
That’s a mind-boggling return on investment, considering Jones originally paid $150 million for the Cowboys back in 1989 (and was laughed at for overpaying). In the past five years alone, the team has seen a 43% increase in value, demonstrating the astronomical star power that the brand possesses in today’s society, seemingly regardless of real-world economics… and even independent of whether the team is successful on the field.
Jones has “added a number of big-ticket amenities,” Forbes notes, “including a modern stadium stacked with luxury boxes, a new corporate headquarters and practice facility called The Star, a merchandising business and licensing arrangement with the NFL, and an equity stake in the stadium management company Legends, as well as investments in esports and a platform built to support youth sports. The team delivered operating profits of $425 million on revenue of $980 million in the 2019 season, record results for the franchise.”
Business is booming across the NFL, as 26 of the 50 teams on the magazine’s list are pro football franchises. Basketball and soccer have nine teams each; baseball is represented by six clubs.
Behind the Cowboys at the top spot are MLB’s New York Yankees and the New York Knicks of the NBA. Barcelona and Real Madrid from European soccer round out the top five.
The Patriots (No. 8) and the Giants (No. 9) are the Cowboys’ closest competition from the NFL, with valuations of $4.4 and $4.3 billion, respectively.
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