Why are the Dallas Cowboys the most valuable franchise?

No NFL franchise is near the $9.2 billion that the Dallas Cowboys are worth. In fact, no sports franchise even comes close. The next most valuable after the Cowboys are MLB’s New York Yankees at $7.1 billion. The Cowboys will most likely lead rankings of the NFL’s most valued clubs for years to come. They will remain “America’s Team” for generations.

How Jerry Jones turned the Cowboys into the most valuable sports franchise

Media rights agreements have increased throughout the NFL. According to Sportico, each of the 32 NFL teams received just over $400 million from the league office last season for media rights, league sponsorships, and shared revenue and royalties from NFL affiliates and subsidiaries - a total of around $13 billion. Media revenue alone makes every NFL team worth over a billion dollars.

Even still, the Cowboys’ $9 billion worth is miles above the others. Billionaire owner Jerry Jones is to thank for that. Jones bought the team for $150 million in 1989 and it’s now worth a whopping 60 times that. Jones considers the Dallas Cowboys to be a business. In addition to media rights, he’s perfected the marketing, merchandise, stadium, and the fan experience.

Forbes puts the Cowboys’ operating worth alone at $504 million and the revenue at $1.1 billion. That’s almost double the revenue of the next most valuable NFL team on the list, the New England Patriots, and the operating income is more than twice the amount of the Patriots’. The Cowboys brand attributes to 19.2% of its value, the AT&T Stadium attributes to 20%, the city and market size of the city attribute to 22.6%, and the revenue shared among teams attributes to 38.2%.

Why are the Cowboys considered “America’s Team”?

The most common question asked though is why the Cowboys are so popular and considered “America’s Team” despite not having won a title in nearly three decades. It’s a fair question. The title of “America’s Team” was given long ago in 1978 by Bob Ryan, the editor-in-chief at NFL Films. He referred to them with that name in a highlight reel, and at that point, the Cowboys had won two Super Bowls. In the 1990s, they won three more, and the name stuck.

The name, the logo, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the history...all of it contributes to the Cowboys’ popularity, and that popularity continues on despite the lack of titles. That’s thanks to smart business moves and good marketing. The Cowboys have sold out their stadium for over 20 years now. The last time they failed to sell a ticket was in 2002.

The Cowboys first became the most valuable sports team in the world in 2015- as the first sports team ever valued at $4 billion- and a few years later, they broke their previous record and jumped into the $5 billion ladder.

It does not seem like the growth in value by the Cowboys will slow down anytime soon. Even though Jerry jones is not foreign to controversy, it also doesn’t seem like he will sell the club, despite fans imploring him to do so after such a long time without a ring.