On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams are joined by Sportico colleague Kurt Badenhausen to discuss his latest NFL valuations. The Dallas Cowboys top the list at $10.32 billion, followed by the Los Angeles Rams ($7.79 billion) and New York Giants ($7.65 billion). The Cincinnati Bengals bring up the rear at $4.71 billion.
The Cowboys are the first sports team that Sportico has ever valued in the eight figures, a reflection of the massive commercial growth of the league—with strong cost controls and steadily increasing recurring revenue—and also in the team’s local business, money that is largely kept by the team. The Cowboys had about $1.2 billion in revenue in 2023, the highest single-year haul for any team in sports history. When it comes to annual operating profits, Dallas was nearly double the next closest team.
They also compare the NFL to two different rival leagues: NBA, where some teams are losing tens of millions of dollars per year, and the Premier League, where losses are also rampant.
“The current NFL system is just the perfect economic model,” Badenhausen says.
The trio talks about the market forces at play across sports, the NFL and with individual teams. What are the NFL’s aspirations in Asia? Why are the New York Giants worth nearly $1 billion more than the New York Jets considering they share much of the economics from their stadium? Will the NFL opt out of its current TV deals at the earliest possible point?
They close by talking about potential red flags for NFL owners. That includes a debate about whether college football, which is undergoing rapid change and increased professionalization, could ever significantly eat into the NFL’s market share.
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