Dallas Cowboys World’s Most Valuable Sports Team

The widespread popularity of soccer to everyone helps the sport’s best clubs sell merchandise and sponsorships to fans and companies in every corner of the globe. Accordingly three of the four most valuable sports franchises in the world are soccer clubs namely, Manchester United ($4.123 billion), Real Madrid ($4.088 billion) and Barcelona ($4.064 billion). They lead a contingent of seven European soccer clubs among the 50 most valuable teams.

But despite their massive global followings, those clubs cannot touch an American football team when it comes to the franchise value standings. The Dallas Cowboys are the world’s most valuable sports team for the third straight year at $4.8 billion, US news outlets reported

Owner Jerry Jones can’t rely on international revenue streams to boost his team’s fortunes like the elite soccer clubs, but he built a gold-plated ATM in AT&T Stadium. The venue that opened in 2009 generates more than $100 million a year in premium seat revenue via luxury suites and club seating and $150 million from sponsors, including the team’s practice facility. Non-football events at the $1.2 billion stadium, along with tours of what is affectionately known as Jerry World, kick off tens of millions of dollars more.

According to Forbes, Manchester United is the second most valuable sports team on the planet although the club failed to lift a single trophy last season and finished a distant 19 points behind Manchester City in the league.

There are a whopping 29 NFL teams on the list of most valuable teams. Eight NBA teams and six MLB franchises are also included.  In a sign of the difficult times facing motor racing, not one Formula One team is featured in the top 50.