NFL Team Values Average $1 Billion

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Cowboys Lead as NFL Team Values Average $1 Billion, Forbes Says
By Mason Levinson

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The National Football League is the first professional sports league to have its franchises average over $1 billion in value, with the Dallas Cowboys remaining atop Forbes magazine's annual rankings.

The average value for an NFL team this year is $1.04 billion, mostly because of revenue from seating and sponsorships at new stadiums, Forbes reported in its ranking of the 32 teams. The Cowboys, owned by Jerry Jones, are worth $1.61 billion, a 7 percent increase over 2007.

Values have more than tripled from $288 million since Forbes first began the ranking 10 years ago.

Daniel Snyder's Washington Redskins ($1.54 billion) remained second after leading the rankings for seven years before being supplanted by the Cowboys in 2007.

With a new shared stadium scheduled to open in 2010, New York's Giants and Jets each saw a 21 percent increase in franchise value.

The Giants ($1.18 billion) are fourth, trailing the New England Patriots ($1.32 billion), whose operating income of $58.1 million is highest among the top 10 teams. The Jets are fifth, with a value of $1.17 billion.

The Cowboys' value rose 28 percent in 2007, adding about $350 million, because the team is building a $1 billion stadium in Arlington. Scheduled to open in 2009, the arena will seat 80,000 people, can be expanded to hold 100,000, and will host the 2011 Super Bowl, the first to be held in the Dallas area.

The Houston Texans ($1.13 billion), with an operating income of $43.9 million, rank sixth, followed by the Eagles ($1.12 billion), Colts ($1.08 billion), Bears ($1.06 billion) and Ravens ($1.06 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.