Dallas Cowboys Remain Most Valuable NFL Franchise

The Dallas Cowboys have remained the most valuable National Football League (NFL) team for the eighth consecutive season.

Despite the team not making the playoffs since 2009, the team’s value has risen by 36 percent over last year to lead the Forbes NFL Team Values list, which was released Wednesday, at $3.2 billion.

The Cowboys are atop the magazine’s rankings by a healthy margin for an eighth consecutive season, having risen in value by $900 million to become the only NFL team worth more than $3 billion.

Despite last having won a championship in 1996, the Cowboys are second in value only to Real Madrid ($3.4 billion) among all global sports franchises.

The Cowboys also have the NFL’s highest revenue ($560 million) and operating income ($246 million), and this season become the first NFL team to have partnerships with a worldwide luxury watch and cruise line.

The New England Patriots ($2.6 billion), the Washington Redskins ($2.4 billion), the New York Giants ($2.1 billion) and the Houston Texans($1.85 billion) round out the top five. 

Forbes says the average NFL franchise is now worth an all-time high of $1.43 billion, which is 23 percent more than a year ago and is the biggest year-over-year increase since 1999.

It is more than the mean valuation of the world’s top 20 soccer teams ($1.05 billion), MLB teams ($811 million) and NBA teams ($634 million).

Other teams in the top 10 include the New York Jets (No. 6, $1.8 billion), Chicago Bears (No. 8, $1.7 billion), San Francisco 49ers (No. 9, $1.6 billion) and the Baltimore Ravens (No. 10, $1.5 billion).