It’s a well-known fact that the Dallas Cowboys are the richest sports franchise in the world. Jerry Jones brought America’s Team back in 1989 for $150 million and made it a $9.2B franchise in a handful of decades. That’s about a 100% increase in net worth. One would think that Soccer leagues like FIFA or Premier League or even some MLB teams could compete with the Cowboys, but that could not be far from the truth.
The most expensive Soccer team is Manchester United at about $6B. NFL teams run circles around such a price tag. Recently, Sportico did an in-depth comparison of the Cowboys’ net worth and shed some light as to why the Dallas Cowboys is a money machine. The analysis was done after taking into account about 100 teams that spanned over 10 different sports. So, what got the Dallas Cowboys to this point?
The Dominance of Dallas Cowboys!
Sportico’s post on X is captioned, “The @dallascowboys are the most valuable sports team in the world at $9.2 billion, based on Sportico’s most recent franchise valuations.” The image in the post shows 100 teams that fall under the most valuable sports teams in the world and the Cowboys are no. 1 in the list. The second most expensive team is the Golden State Warriors followed by the New York Knicks and the LA Lakers. Manchester United is the most expensive Soccer club ($5.95B). So, how did the Cowboys do it?
The amount of real estate, sponsorships, and term-related businesses are some of the few factors that define the value of a team. Jones took the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 and rebuilt it in the image of an “American Dream”. Jones then started capitalizing on merchandise sales, ticket sales, and even sponsorships.
He has ties with companies such as Bank of America, AT&T, Molson Coors, SeatGeek etcetera. These dealings are worth $200M a year. Other Cowboys’ affiliated ventures like Legends Hospitality and The Star are a part of this revenue stream as well. The AT&T Stadium’s Luxury Suites are also responsible for raking in another $100M in revenue.
The NFL has a much smaller fan base than soccer. However, they can generate huge revenues because of their multi-step income model. The Cowboys generate about $460 million a year before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. To put it in perspective, Man U made $59 million in the 2020-21 season, being the most profitable Premier League team.
Soccer losing to the NFL in terms of revenue?
Plainly speaking, yes. Three things put the NFL ahead of soccer are the counterproductive trading rules that hamper the profits, a less cooperative fan base, and a team becoming inferior to a low-performing club, which takes away from the profits. The NFL’s salary cap system is a perfect way to avoid most of these roadblocks because it creates a salary benchmark. Soccer doesn’t have that.
USA Today via Reuters
There are only 11 soccer clubs that made it to the top 100 list. While all the NFL clubs are mentioned in the same list. As far as the Cowboys are concerned, Jerry Jones is a genius at marketing and has brought the team to a point of global recognition, his timing and shrewd mind have made the Cowboys what they are today.
