Anyone looking to purchase the franchise will have to fork out a pretty penny
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. © J. Conrad Williams Jr. / Newsday RM via Getty Images
The Dallas Cowboys, the NFL outfit affectionately known by many as ‘America’s team’, have an estimated price tag very much in keeping with their moniker after it was determined that they are the most valuable sports franchise on earth, according to recent estimates.
Per Sportico, a website which tracks the movers and shakers of the global sports industry, the Cowboys are estimated to be worth a colossal $7.64 billion (£6.25 billion) – a sum which is around $630 million (£515 million) more than the second placed team, baseball’s New York Yankees.
Sportico arrived at these totals after a look under the hood, so to speak, of some of sports most dominant financial empires, and after interviewing a host of bankers, lawyers and various team representatives closely connected to the industry.
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Incredibly, the Cowboys are ranked at being nearly $2 billion more valuable than the NFL’s second most expensive team, the Los Angeles Rams, whose worth is estimated to be in the region of $5.91 billion.
They add that the average value of the NFL’s 32 teams is $4.1 billion (£3.35 billion) – a figure which has increased some 18% in the past 12 months.
The total value of the NFL’s clubs is said to be $132 billion.
Another NFL team, the Denver Broncos, are currently in the midst of a sale to the Walton-Penner family for a sum reported to be $4.65 billion, in what will be an all-time high water mark for an American sports franchise.
Indeed, $4 billion appears to be the proverbial line in the sand when it comes to determining an American sport team’s value.
Sixteen NFL franchises have eclipsed this figure, while the same can be said for just four teams in the NBA and three in the MLB.
Part of what has made Dallas such an expensive commodity is their links t various other enterprises. They partnered with the New York Yankees to form a hospitality company, Legends, while also becoming the first NFL team to secure a high profile sponsorship with Cryptocurrency outfit Blockchain.com.
“Sports may not be for everybody, but for those who do love it, it is real fertile ground,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said to 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.”
American magnate Jerry Jones has been the owner, president, and general manager of the Cowboys since 1989. He has won three Super Bowls throughout his tenure with the team since he purchased it for just $140 million from HR ‘Bum’ Bright.
It hasn’t all been plain-sailing for Jones: in 2013 Texans voted him as the least-favorite sports personality in a poll published by Sports Illustrated.
But judging by the estimates of the net worth of his assets, the term ‘laughing all the way to the bank’ certainly springs to mind.
