For the second consecutive year, the Cowboys ranked atop Forbes’ annual team value rankings. Jerry Jones’ team topped Real Madrid last year and retained the title of world’s most valuable sports franchise at $4.2 billion this year.
Jones bought the Cowboys for $140 million in 1989.
Forbes reported that NFL teams earned an average operating profit of $91 million with no team banking less than $26 million. Only the Bengals, Lions and Bills failed to rank among the top-51 most valuable franchises.
The Patriots were the second-highest NFL team at $3.4 billion, which ranked sixth overall behind the Cowboys, New York Yankees ($3.7 billion), Manchester United ($3.69 billion), Barcelona ($3.64), and Real Madrid ($3.58).
The New York Giants ($3.1 billion) and 49ers ($3 billion) also ranked in the top 10.
The rankings are based on Forbes’ valuations done over the last year for all NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, soccer, NASCAR, and Formula One teams.