Professio𒁏nal sports is big business in the United States and much of the world, and the teams that play those sports—often referred to as franchises—have become valuable properties worth many millions, and even billions, of dollars.

This article looks at some of ಌthe most valuable franc꧂hises and what makes them worth so much.

5 Most Valuable Sports Franchises

Sports franchises are often privately held, making precise 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:valuations difficult. However, a number of independent organizations have attempted to assign values to them. The sports business website Sportico and the business magazine Forbes produce two of the best-known examples. This is how Forbes ranked the five most valuable sports franchises in late 2023:

1. Dallas Cowboys

• Valuation: $9 billion
• League: National Football League (NFL), National Football Conference
• Owner: Jerry Jones
• Year of purchase: 1989
• Price paid: $140 million to $150 million (estimates vary)
• Five-year change in value: +80%
• Change in rank from 2022: unchanged

2. New York Yankees

• Valuation: $7.1 billion
• League: Major League Baseball (MLB), American League
• Owner: Yankee Global Enterprises. The Steinbrenner family has a substantial controlling interest in the company, along with several minority owners.
• Year of purchase: 1973
• Price paid: $8.8 million
• Five-year change in value: +78%
• Change in rank from 2022: up two positions

3 (tie). Golden State Warriors

• Valuation: $7 billion
• League: National Basketball Association (NBA), Western Conference
• Owners: Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. Guber is also an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers MLB franchise.
• Year of purchase: 2010
• Price paid: $450 million
• Five-year change in value: +126%
• Change in rank from 2022: up five positions

3 (tie). New England Patriots

• Valuation: $7 billion
• League: National Football League (NFL), American Football Conference
• Owner: Robert Kraft
• Year of purchase: 1994
• Price paid: $172 million
• Five-year change in value: +84%
• Change in rank from 2022: down one position

5. Los Angeles Rams

• Valuation: $6.9 billion
• League: National Football League (NFL), National Football Conference
• Owner: E. Stanley Kroenke
• Year of purchase: 2010
• Price paid: $750 million
• Five-year change in value: +116%
• Change in rank from 2022: down two positions

Sportico’s rankings, as of late 2022, show a slightly different top five but also have the Dallas Cowboys in the No. 1 spot:

• Dallas Cowboys: $9.2 billion
• Golden State Warriors: $7.56 billion
• New York Yankees: $7.13 billion
• New York Giants: $7.04 billion
• Los Angeles Rams: $6.94 billion

While U.S. franchises claim those top five spots, teams from elsewhere around the world are not far behind. For example, Forbes values Spain’s Real Madrid soccer team at $6.07 billion, putting it in 11th place, and England’s Manchester United at $6 billion, tying for 13th place with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. (Sportico reverses that order, valuing Manchester United at $5.95 billion and Real Madrid at $5.23 billion in its 2023 rankings.)

Analysis of Valuable Sports Franchises

While sources may differ on the precise order and exact value of major sports franchises, one thing is clear: M🍃any of them a⛦re worth a great deal of money.

The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:National Football League, which accounts for three of the world’s five most valuable sports franchises, and seven of the top 10, makes the greatest part of its revenue from television and streaming contracts. In 2021, the league announced that it had signed long-term agreements with Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox, and NBC, beginning with the 2023 season and running through the 2033 season. The NFL didn’t provide financial figures, but industry insiders estimated the deals to be worth over $100 billion.  

The NFL splits its TV revenues equally among its 32 member teams, with each team receiving about $374.4 million in 2022, regardless of its popularity. The NFL also controls league-level 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:merchandise and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:licensing rig𝕴hts, which it splits among the teams as well.

In addition to these so-called national revenues, teams also have their own local revenue streams from merchandise, licensing, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:corporate sponsorships, ticket and concession sales, renting out their stadiums, and other sources. This locally generated revenue represents money they don’t have to share, and it is where a team’s popularity can really pay off.🌠

For example, according to CBS Sports, the ever-popular Dallas Cowboys took in $1.05 billion in total revenues in the 2022 season—$272 million more than the Los Angeles Rams, which was second on the list.

Comparison Across Sports Leagues

The National Football League remains by far the most valuable league in the world, and not only because of its top franchises. As Sportico put it in a 2023 headline comparing American pro football to its British counterpart, “Every NFL Team Sees More Profit Than Any Premier League Club.”

In the most recent Forbes breakdown of the 50 most valuable sports franchises, 30 were NFL teams, six were 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:NBA teams, five were MLB teams, and the remaining nine were split among five non-U.S. soccer leagues.

Historical Trends in Valuations

Prior to the widespread advent of television starting in the 1950s, professional sports teams were essentially local businesses, ꦉlargely reliant on t👍icket sales. With TV, they became national, then international, attractions.

As the television a😼udience—and the advertising dollars that broadcasters could charge for delivering that audience—continued to grow, teams became ever more valuable.

The Dallas Cowboys are a prime example. Founded in 1960, the team was owned for its first several decades by Clint Murchison Jr. In 1984, Murchison sold the team and its stadium to H.R. “Bum” Bright and a group of investors for an estimated $80 million, at that time the largest amount ever paid for a sports franchise. Bright sold it in 1989 to Jerry Jones for $140 million, according to the official Cowboys history—$65 million for the team and another $75 million for the stadium. In 2019, Forbes put the franchise’s value at $5 billion, and today estimates it at $9.2 billion.

In other words, the value of the franchise nearly doubled in the five years from 198ജ4 to 1989 and nearly doubled again in the five years from 2019 to today.

Future Outlook for Valuable Sports Franchises

Unless the world suddenly loses interest in professional athletics, today’s sports franchises seem likely to continue to ꧑grow, although whether they can continue to maintain their recent rate of growth remains𝐆 to be seen.

One likely driver of growth is 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:sports betting. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the option to legalize gambling on sports. Since that time, it has become legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

A 2023 Washington Post report estimated that the NFL was taking in $132 million in gambling-related sponsorships. But more important in terms of revenue, betting is increasing television viewership, making sports an even more valuable commodity to advertisers and broadcasters.

The Bottom Line

Top sports franchises have proven to be very good investments for their owners, many nearly doubling in value in recent years. Television deals remain th😼eir major source of revenue, but sports betting might not be far behind.