Fifteen years ago, eight sports teams were sold in major U.S. sports leagues or the English Premier League. The purchase prices provide a window into how sports teams were viewed at the time: $170 million (NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning), $450 million (NBA’s Golden State Warriors), $476 million (EPL’s Liverpool) and $750 million (NFL’s Los Angeles Rams).
Times have changed.
Those teams are all now worth at least 10x what the buyers paid, as the value of sports teams has exploded. Credit a combination of higher TV rights fees, new venues, more sophisticated business operations, greater appreciation of the scarcity value of the assets and the opening up of the cap tables to institutional investors.
In 2010, there was not a sports franchise on the planet worth $2 billion, with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees and Manchester United all hovering around $1.8 billion. Today, the 100 most valuable sports franchises are all worth more than $2 billion.
The top 100 teams, based on Sportico’s published team valuations over the past year, cover six sports and nine leagues around the world. The Cowboys ($10.32 billion), Warriors ($9.14 billion), New York Knicks ($8.3 billion), Los Angeles Lakers ($8.07 billion) and Yankees ($7.93 billion) make up the top five.
The 100 clubs are collectively worth $470 billion, including team-related businesses and real estate held by owners. There are 42 clubs worth at least $5 billion, up from 22 last year. The cutoff for the top 100 is $2.03 billion (San Diego Padres).
Click here for a ranking of all 100 teams and a detailed methodology.
The NFL dominates the top of the financial table thanks to its unprecedented combo of guaranteed revenue and cost certainty. The league’s least valuable team, the Cincinnati Bengals at $4.71 billion, ranked No. 52 overall.
In 2023, each of the NFL’s 32 teams received just over $400 million from league-wide media, sponsorship, licensing and merchandise deals. In addition, teams took in $25 million apiece as part of the NFL’s shared gate receipt system, which pushed equally shared revenue to 67% of the $20.5 billion total. Meanwhile, the league’s relatively hard carp—$255 million in 2024—typically allows every team to turn an operating profit of at least $70 million and top clubs over $150 million.
Local revenue for most NFL teams ranges from $150 million to $200 million, paling in comparison to national revenue. It leads to NFL teams being valued in a relatively narrow range. The Cowboys are worth 2.2x the Bengals—the top-to-bottom spread is 1.6 times if you exclude outlier Dallas. The comps in other leagues are 3x (NBA), 3.5x (NHL), and 7.8x (MLB). The disparity is most extreme in European soccer, largely because of the promotion and relegation system. Man United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are all worth at least 40 times the least valuable club in their league.
Recent investments show NFL team valuations still have room to run, with the Buffalo Bills selling a stake at a reported value of $5.8 billion, and both the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles commanding more than $8 billion valuations from new investors. Those LP transactions were completed at 10-25% premiums to Sportico’s most recent control-sale valuations for the clubs.
The NBA also landed all 30 of its clubs in the top 100, with the Memphis Grizzlies ($3.06 billion) ranked No. 84. The NBA is tracking toward the NFL model thanks to greater cost certainty and higher central revenue. In 2023, the league and players union reached a new CBA, which seems to rein in the most aggressive roster spenders, based on early evidence from the impact of the second “apron.” Last year, the NBA signed a new TV deal worth $77 billion over 11 years. By the end of the agreement, it will triple the annual payout to franchises from last season.
The rest of the top 100 comes from MLB (15 teams), soccer (10), NHL (eight) and Formula 1 (five).
Baseball’s representation dropped by two teams, as MLB valuations have grown much slower than other leagues in recent years. Since 2021, the average MLB team value is up 20%, versus 92% in the NHL, 78% in the NBA and 69% in the NFL.
The declining financial health of regional sports networks has hit MLB particularly hard, as local TV traditionally represented more than 20% of team revenue. Last week, ESPN dealt the sport another media blow when it opted to end its $550 million-a-year national agreement three years early. The $1.73 billion purchase of the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 is the only MLB team sale over the last four years.
Soccer lost one entry, with Juventus now valued at $1.77 billion and well below the 2025 cutoff. It meant Italy's Serie A was shut out from the top 100. The other four of the Big 5 European soccer leagues are represented, but their relative ranks have largely dipped as investors worry about the domestic media deals and lack of restraints on player spending. Man United ($6.2 billion) at No. 17 is down three spots, and the club recently announced plans for another round of layoffs as it endures its worst on-field performance in 50 years.
The NHL picked up one new entry in the top 100, as the Edmonton Oilers rank 94th at $2.4 billion. Bankers point to the hard cap at both the league and team level, as well as the strong arena business in most NHL markets.
F1 landed the other two open slots with McLaren ($2.65 billion) and Aston Martin ($2.07 billion), while Ferrari ($4.76 billion), Mercedes ($3.94 billion) and Red Bull Racing ($3.5 billion) all rose at least 15 spots in the rankings.
The price of an F1 team has surged with new revenue opportunities and the introduction of cost caps in 2021. Every F1 team is worth $1 billion for the first time, with Haas in 10th on the circuit at $1.02 billion. F1 joins other sports properties where the “get-in” price has hit $1 billion over the past decade, including the NFL (2015), NBA (2018), MLB (2019) and NHL (2024).
Seven people are the control owners of two teams in the top 100, while Stan Kroenke landed three with the Los Angeles Rams ($7.79 billion), Denver Nuggets ($4.06 billion) and Arsenal ($3.91 billion). The complete Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) empire spans two countries, five sports and seven teams.
Rogers Communications is on the verge of joining KSE in this unique club. The Canadian telecom giant already owns 100% of the Toronto Blue Jays ($2.27 billion) and 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Toronto Raptors ($4.66 billion) and Toronto Maple Leafs ($3.66 billion). In September, Rogers reached an agreement to acquire BCE’s 37.5% stake in MLSE. The deal is expected to close this year, giving Rogers control of three teams in the top 100.