$13 billion and still no Super Bowl: The Cowboys’ unsatisfying dominance

The Dallas Cowboys are champions again! Just...not on the field.

Forbes released its latest rankings of the world’s most valuable sports franchises, and once again, the Cowboys sit comfortably at No. 1 with a valuation of $13 billion, up 29% from last year. It marks another year atop the list for “America’s Team,” a spot they’ve held every season since 2016.

From a business standpoint, it’s a staggering success. From a football standpoint? It’s… underwhelming.

“Great, this is what we win?”

The glaring contrast in their financial and football success is exactly why the news lands a little flat for the Cowboys fans.

“Cowboy fans are not going to be thrilled with this from the standpoint of, great, this is what we win?” said RJ Choppy of 105.3 The Fan. “We don’t win the Super Bowl. We win the Forbes number one.”

The Cowboys remain the NFL’s most recognizable brand, the most marketable franchise, and the most financially powerful team in sports. Yet they haven’t played in a Super Bowl in nearly 30 years. At some point, the celebration starts to feel like a deflection.

The reality is that the Cowboys’ value has very little to do with Sunday afternoons. AT&T Stadium is less a football venue and more an entertainment megaplex, generating massive revenue through premium seating, sponsorships, concerts, and year-round events. The Star in Frisco has turned a practice facility into an economic ecosystem, complete with restaurants, retail, events, and tours, all monetized under the Cowboys’ brand.

The team sells jerseys, hats, and logos whether the team is 12–5 or hovering around .500. In that sense, the Cowboys may have cracked the ultimate code, winning financially without needing to win consistently on the field.

Choppy also points to how deeply ingrained the Cowboys are in American sports culture, a status built long before the current drought.

“‘America’s Team’ didn’t come from the Cowboys themselves,” he noted, pointing to NFL Films and the team’s annual Thanksgiving spotlight in the 1970s. “They were good every year. They were in everybody’s living room.”

That exposure became loyalty. Loyalty became tradition. And tradition became something far more durable than wins and losses.

And whether fans like it or not, Jerry Jones’ fingerprints are all over this. The Cowboys are always in the news. Sometimes for football. Often for everything else. Jones has never shied away from the spotlight, and he’s openly admitted that staying relevant, for the good or the bad, is part of the strategy.

“He’s done a better job making news than making it on the field sometimes,” Choppy said.

The Cowboys just released a Netflix documentary - “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” - this summer that dominated sports conversation, despite the team’s on-field frustrations. Even in disappointment, the brand keeps growing.

The burning question underneath the $13 billion headline is whether financial dominance has actually lowered the stakes. If the Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in sports without winning championships, where is the pressure to change? Where is the urgency that defines true contenders? It’s been years of the Cowboys topping this list, and even more years since they won a Super Bowl. But nothing changes if nothing changes.

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