Forbes announced its 2021 ranking of The World’s Most Valuable Sports Teams and the 50 teams on this year’s list continue to see growth despite the global pandemic.
The Dallas Cowboys top the list with a valuation of $5.7 billion dollars, up 43% percent in the last five year. The New York Yankees retain the No. 2 spot on this year’s list, with a valuation of $5.3 billion.
“The top 50 highest-earning teams span from just four sports, which is indicative of which leagues have been most successful at deriving value from their IP,” said Mike Ozanian, Forbes Assistant Managing Editor. “Media rights are still the single biggest determinant of each league’s representation on the top-50 list.”
Rounding out the top five highest-valued sports teams are the New York Knicks, Barcelona and Real Madrid, worth $5 billion, $4.76 and $4.75 billion respectively. The average sports teams are worth an average of $3.43 billion, up 11% from last year’s ranking.
The top 50 teams are made up of football (26), basketball (9), soccer (9) and baseball (6). Media rights are still the single biggest determinant of each league’s representation on the top-50 list.
Methodology
Team values (equity plus net debt) are based on Forbes’ published valuations for each sport during the past six months, which were calculated using revenue and operating income adjusted for revenue sharing, and include the economics of each team’s arena deal but not the value of the real estate itself. The information used to compile our valuations primarily came from the teams, sports bankers, media consultants and public documents, like arena lease agreements and bond documents.