Dallas Cowboys Headline List of Forbes' Most Valuable Sports Franchises

The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise in the world, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes, with a value of $4 billion.

NFL franchises make up 27 of the 50 most valuable sports organizations in the world, according to Forbes' list. The Cowboys are the first non-soccer club to lead all franchises since Forbes began compiling its top 50 in 2011, with Manchester United (2011-2012) and Real Madrid (2013-2015) holding the No. 1 spot in recent years.

Real Madrid ($3.65 billion) is the second-most valuable franchise in all of sports, while fellow La Liga giants Barcelona are third on the list ($3.55 billion) and Manchester United ranked fifth ($3.32 billion).

The New York Yankees are the fourth-most valuable franchise on Forbes' list with a worth of $3.4 billion, making them the only MLB franchise in the top 10 of the rankings. The New York Knicks ($3 billion) are the NBA's most valuable franchise at No. 7, while no Formula One, NASCAR or NHL teams made the list.

Rank	Team	League	Worth
1	Dallas Cowboys	NFL	$4 billion
2	Real Madrid	La Liga	$3.65 billion
3	Barcelona	La Liga	$3.55 billion
4	New York Yankees	MLB	$3.4 billion
5	Manchester United	EPL	$3.32 billion
6	New England Patriots	NFL	$3.2 billion
7	New York Knicks	NBA	$3 billion
8	Washington	NFL	$2.85 billion
9	New York Giants	NFL	$2.8 billion
10	Los Angeles Lakers	NBA	$2.7 billion

The final breakdown includes 27 NFL teams, seven MLB teams, eight NBA teams and eight European soccer clubs. Breaking the soccer clubs down further, the English Premier League had five clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool), La Liga had two clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona) and the German Bundesliga had one (Bayern Munich).

Arsenal saw the biggest jump in the rankings, as Badenhausen wrote:

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The biggest mover in the top 50 is Stan Kroenke’s Arsenal squad, which rose 13 spots to No. 23 with a value of $2.02 billion. The Gunners had the most expensive season tickets in the sport this year at $1,500-$3,000 for adults. Arsenal also received the biggest cut of Premier League TV money this season at $148 million, or $7 million more than Manchester City.

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The Ferrari Formula One team had the biggest drop, falling from No. 32 last year to out of the rankings entirely in this edition.

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