AT&T Stadium, Dallas, TX; photo courtesy of Google/Gergely Kovacs

Dallas Cowboys, NY Yankees Top U.S. Teams in Total Cash Value

 

| published October 5, 2015 |

By Thursday Review staff

A recent report by Forbes magazine shows that by assets and net worth, the most valuable sports teams in the United States are the Dallas Cowboys football franchise, the New York Yankees baseball organization, and the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Following closely behind the Lakers, in fourth place, are the New England Patriots, last year’s Super Bowl winners.

The top two U.S. sports teams—the Cowboys and the Yankees—are each worth about $3.2 billion, give or take a few dollars, a truly staggering sum of money. That makes the pair of iconic mega teams worth more than many Fortune 500 companies.

But amazingly neither the Cowboys nor the Yankees top the list of value worldwide. That title goes to the Real Madrid Club de Futbol, known more routinely as the Real—Madrid, Spain’s soccer team. The Real tops the list of assets, net worth and total value for any sports organization worldwide: estimated total worth, 2.65 billion euro, or $3.3 billion.

Near the top of the list worldwide are two additional soccer teams, Barcelona and Manchester United, worth $3.15 billion and $3.11 billion apiece. No chump change there either.

Real and its close rival Barcelona have something of an advantage over most of the other European soccer teams in that both organizations are allowed to craft their own deals and engage in their own negotiations with networks for broadcast rights worldwide. And because of both teams’ enormous followings, team negotiators are able to cut highly lucrative deals in which team profits shatter all competition, even their American rivals among the NFL, MLB and NBA mega franchises.

As for the U.S. teams, the Cowboys top the list for the eighth consecutive year. Among the advantages the Dallas Cowboys have: a powerful and loyal following among television audiences throughout the country, and an immensely successful franchise venue (AT&T Stadium) in which revenue from sponsors, reliably packed seating capacity, and fan willingness to pay for premium seating all combine to keep the cash flowing at a higher rate than any other NFL team.

The Forbes rankings also include hockey teams and Formula 1 racing teams on its list. But only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Team Ferrari made the top 50 globally—the rest of the list is composed of teams from the NFL, NBA, MLB and European soccer organizations.

Related Thursday Review articles:

The Joy of an Old Media Guide; Earl Perkins; Thursday Review; May 20, 2015.

Cyberball: Major League Baseball & Information Security; Kevin Robbie; Thursday Review; July 4, 2015.