For decades, financial news site Forbes.com has published annual estimates of how much each North American major league sports team is worth, and most franchises have grown to a billion dollars or more. Much more, in some cases. The Dallas Cowboys are estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.5 billion, the most in the world. The valuations often trigger a wave of fan interest and media coverage, and the Forbes data often is cited in coverage of team sales, particularly when the price catches everyone by surprise. Exhibit A is Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the LA Clippers in 2014 when Forbes had published the same year a valuation for the team of only $575 million. And that’s the real measure of what a team truly is worth – the size of the check to buy it.