You better have money if you want to buy an NFL team.
Sportico has come up with its list of what each National Football League franchise is worth. It is a futile exercise because a sports franchise is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay to buy it. Case in point. In 2014, Steve Ballmer decided to spend more than two billion dollars to buy the Los Angeles Clippers National Basketball Association franchise. Ballmer made a vanity purchase because he wanted a team. A team is worth whatever the seller gets from a potential buyer and it doesn’t matter what Forbes or Sportico writers think a team is worth. Sportico has the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys as the most valuable team. Jerry Jones, who bought the franchise in 1989 for a reported $150 million, could, according to Sportico, get $7.64 billion if Jones wanted to dispose of the business and found someone who wanted to buy the franchise.
Stan Kroenke’s Los Angeles Rams is in second place at $5.91 billion followed by Robert Kraft’s New England Patriots franchise at $5.88 billion. The Mara and Tisch families’ New York Giants clock in at number four at $5.73 billion. The fifth most valuable team is Jed York’s San Francisco 49ers at $5.18 billion despite the fact that the 49ers business and Santa Clara are at odds over stadium revenues. The McCaskey Bears are worth more than $5 billion despite the fact the Chicago stadium where the franchise plays is getting a bit old and the business owners are seeking greener pastures in suburban Arlington Heights. Woody Johnson’s East-Rutherford, New Jersey-based New York Jets that team is valued at $4.83 billion dollars or $900 million less than the Mara-Tisch Giants even though the two businesses are partners in the East Rutherford stadium and the same market. The least valuable team in the NFL? Mike Brown’s Cincinnati Bengals coming in at $2.84 billion.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
