Cowboys, Yankees, Knicks, Lakers Headline 2020 Forbes' Most Valuable Teams List

Forbes released its list of the 50 most valuable franchises in sports for 2020 on Friday, and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys are once again on top.

The Cowboys lead the way with a value of $5.5 billion, which is $500 million higher than last year when they also occupied the top spot. The Cowboys are followed by the New York Yankees ($5 billion), New York Knicks ($4.6 billion), Los Angeles Lakers ($4.4 billion) and Golden State Warriors ($4.3 billion).

The Cowboys and Yankees are in the same spot as last year, while the Knicks moved up from fifth to third, the Lakers went from eighth to fourth and the Warriors went from ninth to fifth.

Each of the aforementioned teams have gone up in value since last year despite the coronavirus pandemic. The NFL has yet to be impacted by COVID-19 in terms of missing regular-season games, but the NBA and MLB both lost four months of action.

Television deals make up a large portion of the profits for teams in the four major American sports, and those have remained in place.

Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes noted that the average NFL team makes $102 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, followed by the NBA at $70 million, MLB at $50 million and NHL at $25 million.

Soccer teams took a bit of a fall on this year's list compared to last year, as Real Madrid was third in 2019 and Barcelona was fourth. This year, Madrid is sixth and Barca is eighth, and they each have the same worth as last year at $4.24 billion and $4.02 billion, respectively.

Other teams in the top 10 include the New England Patriots in seventh ($4.1 billion), New York Giants in ninth ($3.9 billion) and Manchester United in 10th ($3.81 billion).

The second-most valuable MLB team is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are tied for 14th at $3.4 billion.

There is no NHL team inside the top 50, and most of the list, especially from 17-50 is made up of NFL teams, which is due to the NFL's massive television deals and revenue sharing system.