Dallas Cowboys top Forbes list as world's most valuable sports team, again

Jerry Jones' NFL team is estimated to be worth about $13 billion.

The Dallas Cowboys are coming out on top – not on the field but in the world of business.

New numbers out from Forbes this week reveal the most valuable sports teams in the world and the Dallas Cowboys are once again number one, valued at $13 billion.

That figure is up 29% from last year, keeping “America’s Team” at the top every year since 2016.

"Cowboy fans are not going to be thrilled with this from the standpoint of – great, this is what we win? We don't win the Super Bowl. We win the Forbes number one,” said RJ Choppy, a host for popular sports talk radio shows on 105.3 The Fan. “We win the most valuable team. We win the most popular team. We win the most recognizable team, but we never actually win the best team. And I think fans have kind of grown tired of that. The reality is that this is what they are right now."

For the Cowboys, it’s bigger than wins and losses. Their brand drives revenue year-round and it’s not really about the actual game.

Choppy points to AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys, which brings in major revenue through premium seating, sponsorships, and events.

Merchandise through jerseys, hats and swag sells year-round and around the world.

Then there’s The Star in Frisco, where practice has turned into profit. The training center has become an economic hub for Collin County with restaurants, retail, event space, tours, and other attractions fueling development and buzz over the silver and blue.

Choppy also points to the history books in securing the Cowboys' hold over fans.

"’America's Team’ came from an NFL Films piece they did back in the 1970s. It wasn't the Cowboys that gave themselves the moniker ‘America's Team,’” he said. “But I'll never not believe that it all started with Thanksgiving. Playing on Thanksgiving and being a really good team really helped propel them into that because they were in everybody's living room at a time when everybody's TV wasn't set to NFL games. The Cowboys' playing on Thanksgiving gradually became more and more popular. They were good every year. They were in the playoffs every year, 20 straight years."

Even though America’s Team hasn’t played in a Super Bowl in three decades, Choppy said good old-fashioned marketing through the Jerry Jones generation might be a key ingredient behind the Cowboys’ continued dominance in valuations. This past summer, a Netflix documentary on the Cowboys nearly broke the internet with big revelations and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the team.

"It doesn't matter now whether they win or lose. They're always in the news. They just always are. Jerry Jones done a great job of making sure they're in the news. A better job making it on the news than on the field sometimes,” Choppy joked.  "[Jones] even said in the Netflix documentary, one of the first things he read was a marketing book about always making sure that you're in the news, whether it's good or bad. He believes that any publicity is good publicity. And people can have disagreements with that, but you can't argue with the success."

Joining the Cowboys near the top in the $10+ Billion Club:

• Dallas Cowboys (NFL) — $13B
• Golden State Warriors (NBA) — $11B
• Los Angeles Rams (NFL) — $10.5B
• New York Giants (NFL) — $10.1B
• Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) — $10B

Six years ago, $5 billion would have topped the Forbes list, but this year, that wouldn’t even make it to the top 50.

Experts point to a surge in media rights fees, bigger league distributions, more sponsorship, and premium seating, all pushing revenues higher and, with it, valuations.

Not every sport is soaring. The top soccer clubs in Europe rose only 5% since last year amid stagnating media rights fees, rising costs, and significant debt.