Jerry Jones has said he would never sell the Dallas Cowboys. If he ever changed his mind, Sportico has it valued at $7.64 billion, making it the most valuable franchise across all sports.
According to Sportico, the Cowboys have a $630 million advantage on the second-place New York Yankees.
Sportico's calculations are derived from interviews with more than 30 bankers, lawyers, team executives, owners and consultants as well as public documents involved in the sport. The average NFL franchise is worth $4.1 billion, up 18% over last year.
The Denver Broncos were sold to the Walton-Penner family ownership group for $4.65 billion, according to sources. The sale is expected to be approved at the next meeting of owners. The price is a record paid for a North American sports franchise.
Sixteen NFL franchises have been valued at least $4 billion, compared to seven in the other U.S. sports leagues, including four in the NBA and three in MLB.
The total value of the NFL's franchises, which include team-related businesses and real estate held by owners, is $132 billion, according to Sportico.
The Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots have real estate developments and other businesses that made it the top three valued teams in the NFL. The Cowboys started a hospitality company, Legends, with the Yankees, and has partnerships with a number of NFL teams. This offseason it became the first NFL team to reach a sponsorship deal with a cryptocurrency company, Blockchain.com.
"Sports may not be for everybody, but for those who do love it, it is real fertile ground," executive vice president Stephen Jones told Sportico. "Whether it's a Legends platform, a real estate platform, a technology platform, we've seen that you can use The Star, the Cowboys and sports to really enhance business."
The top-10 valued franchises are the Cowboys ($7.64 billion), Los Angeles Rams ($5.91 billion), New England Patriots ($5.88 billion), New York Giants ($5.73 billion), San Francisco 49ers ($5.18 billion), Chicago Bears ($5 billion), New York Jets ($4.8 billion), Washington Commanders ($4.78 billion), Philadelphia Eagles ($4.7 billion) and Denver Broncos ($4.65 billion).
The Cincinnati Bengals, who made it to last season's Super Bowl, are the least-valued franchise at $2.84 billion.