The NFL is still the most dominant sports league when it comes to the worth of its franchises. More than half of the top 50 are football squads. Credit the monster media-rights deals with the likes of CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and DirecTV that paid out more than $260 million per team last year. The TV haul is a nice cushion to easily cover teams’ biggest expense item, player costs, before any tickets, sponsorships, beer or replica jerseys are sold. The cap on player salaries was $177 million last season (each team is also on the hook for $40 million annually in player benefit costs).
21|New York Jets(NFL)
- Value:$2.85 billion
- 1-Year % Change:4%
- Owner:Robert Wood Johnson IV
- Operating Income:$130 million
19(tie) |Chicago Bears(NFL)
- Value:$2.9 billion
- 1-Year % Change:2%
- Owners:McCaskey family
- Operating Income:$100 million
19(tie) |Chicago Bulls(NBA)
- Value:$2.9 billion
- 1-Year % Change:12%
- Owner:Jerry Reinsdorf
- Operating Income:$115 million
18|San Francisco Giants(MLB)
- Value:$3 billion
- 1-Year % Change:5%
- Owner:Charles Johnson
- Operating Income:$84 million
17|Bayern Munich(Soccer)
- Value:$3.02 billion
- 1-Year % Change:-1%
- Owners:Club members
- Operating Income:$129 million
16|San Francisco 49ers(NFL)
- Value:$3.05 billion
- 1-Year % Change:0%
- Owners:Denise DeBartolo York, John York
- Operating Income:$106 million
14(tie) |Chicago Cubs(MLB)
- Value:$3.1 billion
- 1-Year % Change:7%
- Owners:Ricketts family
- Operating Income:$87 million
14(tie) |Washington Redskins(NFL)
- Value:$3.1 billion
- 1-Year % Change:0%
- Owner:Daniel Snyder
- Operating Income:$122 million
12(tie) |Los Angeles Rams(NFL)
- Value:$3.2 billion
- 1-Year % Change:7%
- Owner:Stanley Kroenke
- Operating Income:$68 million
12(tie) |Boston Red Sox(MLB)
- Value:$3.2 billion
- 1-Year % Change:14%
- Owners:John Henry, Thomas Werner
- Operating Income:$84 million
10(tie) |Los Angeles Dodgers(MLB)
- Value:$3.3 billion
- 1-Year % Change:10%
- Owners:Guggenheim Baseball Management
- Operating Income:$95 million
10(tie) |New York Giants(NFL)
- Value:$3.3 billion
- 1-Year % Change:0%
- Owners:John Mara, Steven Tisch
- Operating Income:$149 million
9|Golden State Warriors(NBA)
- Value:$3.5 billion
- 1-Year % Change:13%
- Owners:Joe Lacob, Peter Guber
- Operating Income:$103 million
8|Los Angeles Lakers(NBA)
- Value:$3.7 billion
- 1-Year % Change:12%
- Owners:Jerry Buss Family Trusts,Philip Anschutz
- Operating Income:$147 million
7|New England Patriots(NFL)
- Value:$3.8 billion
- 1-Year % Change:3%
- Owner:Robert Kraft
- Operating Income:$235 million
6|Manchester United(Soccer)
- Value:$3.81 billion
- 1-Year % Change:-8%
- Owners:Glazer family
- Operating Income:$238 million
5|New York Knicks(NBA)
- Value:$4 billion
- 1-Year % Change:11%
- Owner:Madison Square Garden Company
- Operating Income:$155 million
4|Barcelona(Soccer)
- Value:$4.02 billion
- 1-Year % Change:-1%
- Owners:Club members
- Operating Income: -$37 million
3|Real Madrid(Soccer)
- Value:$4.24 billion
- 1-Year % Change:4%
- Owners:Club members
- Operating Income:$112 million
2|New York Yankees(MLB)
- Value:$4.6 billion
- 1-Year % Change:15%
- Owners:Steinbrenner family
- Operating Income:$30 million
1|Dallas Cowboys(NFL)
- Value:$5 billion
- 1-Year % Change:4%
- Owner:Jerry Jones
- Operating Income:$365 million