NFL teams on average are worth $4.14 billion, 18 percent more than last year, with the cheapest team the Cincinnati Bengals at $2.84 billion, a new valuation study from Sportico reports.
To put that into perspective, before Rob Walton agreed this year to buy the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion, the previous sale, the Carolina Panthers in 2018, went for a then-record $2.275 billion, or more than half a billion dollars less than the 32nd team now in the Sportico valuations.
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The NFL business machine barely hiccuped during the pandemic, cementing the league as the country’s preeminent entertainment product with 75 of the 100 most-watched programs of 2021. The NFL struck decade-long media deals worth $110 billion in 2021, as well as securing 10 years of labor peace in 2020. In 2021, each NFL team’s share of national revenues came to $347.3 million, a number that will only grow rapidly in the coming years.
Unsurprisingly, “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys sit atop the Sportico valuation rankings at $7.64 billion, followed by the Los Angeles Rams at $5.91 billion and the New England Patriots at $5.88 billion.
Valuation reports of course should be read with a grain of salt. Other than the Green Bay Packers, teams’ financials are not public, so setting a team’s revenues as part of a value calculation is often informed guesswork. And a team is, in the end, worth what a buyer is willing to pay, which in sports is often a decision driven by emotion more than finance.
In its 2021 study, Sportico pegged the Broncos’ value at $3.8 billion. Less than a year later it sold for 23 percent more.
But there is no question the valuations of NFL teams are well into the billions of dollars and surging. Despite its flagging attendance and well-reported scandals, even the Washington Commanders rank eighth in the NFL at $4.78 billion, according to Sportico, a testament to the team’s history and marketplace. Last year Sportico ranked the Commanders sixth at $4.25 billion.
The top teams in the Sportico rankings are largely big market clubs, with the Green Bay Packers the first real small market coming in at 14th ($4.19 billion). There are some big market teams that rank low. The Los Angeles Chargers, the junior partner in SoFi Stadium to the Rams, ranked 19th at $3.62 billion. And the Arizona Cardinals, which play outside Phoenix, ranked 28th at $3.165 billion.
Sportico is owned by Penske Media, which also publishes Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter among other titles.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
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