Home Money These Are The Top 20 World’s Most Valuable Sports Franchises, Ranked

These Are The Top 20 World’s Most Valuable Sports Franchises, Ranked

October 13, 2022

These Are The World's Most Valuable Sports Franchises, Ranked

Putting a dollar value behind every match-winning play.

Since the very first ticket to a sporting match was sold, the lucrative partnership between teams and big business has grown into an industry of its own. Over the last two years, sporting teams have powered through the blip of dwindling viewership brought about by the pandemic to deliver substantial increases in revenue to their billionaire owners. With the post-pandemic sporting boom well and truly back in action, we only imagine this growth will continue. But of all the superstar teams, who comes out on top in the rankings?

American football teams continue to dominate, with Forbes estimating the average wealth of an NFL team is 28% higher than it was in 2021. Once again, the powerhouse that is the Dallas Cowboys have held on tightly to the title of the richest American football team.

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A handful of soccer teams, NBA teams, and a lonely MLB team fill out the rest of the list. But who’s to say this list is anything but concrete? The most recent reports on NFL team values have all recorded significant increases on the year before. Forbes have yet to release the latest details on the NBA, and with the season tipping off in October, there are sure to be some updated figures.

Only a week ago, rumours about the Glazer family surfaced indicating they were looking to sell some of their shares in Manchester United, juggernauts of the premier league. According to the Glazer’s reports, their valuation was over $6 billion USD— which would propel them some way up the list below, to become one of the highest prices ever paid for a sporting club. Just one example about how these results can easily contrast between other valuations.

The Denver Broncos were sold in early August for $4.65 billion USD, a massive figure not only by raw numbers, but for how much it was compared to the predicted revenue for the club. Was the franchise massively overpriced? Or is this the future value that sports teams are heading towards?

Interestingly, while NFL teams continue to enjoy the lion’s share of this list, some of the lower ranked soccer clubs show the most tenacious growth, even if they don’t crack the top end of the list. Clubs that are well into the top 50 like Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City have seen rapid growth since their famous takeovers. Most reports put the growth at a much higher rate than the established presence of Barcelona and Manchester United. Could we maybe bear witness to a changing of the guard in the coming years?

Of course, big business dug its claws into sport a long time ago. And while many fans still hold onto hope that those purchasing clubs should lead with an emotional investment first and foremost, such massive figures don’t necessarily feed into the idea the billion-dollar takeover is about a “love for the team”.

Yet whether you like the idea of sport as a business or not, it’s impossible to look past the value these teams present. All of these valuations are snapshots into the figure at one point in time. Plus, should ownership ever change hands, expect these values to be much higher (don’t bother asking Jerry Jones though, he’ll never sell).

But for now, here you have it: the list of the most valuable sports teams according to Forbes.

All images courtesy of Getty Images.