NFL TEAMS DOMINATE FORBES’ MOST PROFITABLE LIST

img

Forbes’ 2025 list of the world’s most profitable sports teams illustrates one almost obvious fact: owning an NFL franchise is a financial goldmine.

The top three spots belong to the Dal­las Cow­boys, Los Ange­les Rams, and New Eng­land Patri­ots — not just lead­ing Amer­i­can sports, but the entire globe.

In total, five NFL teams make the top 10, joined by two NBA fran­chis­es, two Pre­mier League clubs, and one NHL team. The broad­er top 20 fea­tures nine NFL teams, five from the NBA, three from the NHL, and three from the Pre­mier League. Togeth­er, these teams raked in an esti­mat­ed $3.9 bil­lion in prof­it dur­ing the lat­est sea­son ana­lyzed, aver­ag­ing $195 mil­lion per team — a 12% increase from the pre­vi­ous year.

Notably, this list focus­es on prof­itabil­i­ty, not val­u­a­tion, mea­sur­ing oper­at­ing income (earn­ings before inter­est, tax­es, depre­ci­a­tion, and amor­ti­za­tion). For these fran­chis­es, mak­ing mon­ey is just as cru­cial as win­ning.

Texas demon­strates its eco­nom­ic might and swag, with two NFL teams in the top 10: the Dal­las Cow­boys and the Hous­ton Tex­ans. The Cow­boys, val­ued at $10.1 bil­lion, lead the list with a stag­ger­ing $564 mil­lion prof­it, cement­ing their sta­tus as America’s Team — and the world’s most prof­itable sports fran­chise.

Top 10 Most Prof­itable Sports Teams (2025):

  1. Dal­las Cow­boys (NFL): Val­ue: $10.1 bil­lion | Own­er: Jer­ry Jones | Prof­it: $564 mil­lion
  2. Los Ange­les Rams (NFL): Val­ue: $7.6 bil­lion | Own­er: E. Stan­ley Kroenke | Prof­it: $286 mil­lion
  3. New Eng­land Patri­ots (NFL): Val­ue: $7.4 bil­lion | Own­er: Robert Kraft | Prof­it: $261 mil­lion
  4. Edmon­ton Oil­ers (NHL): Val­ue: $2.65 bil­lion | Own­er: Daryl Katz | Prof­it: $213 mil­lion
  5. Los Ange­les Lak­ers (NBA): Val­ue: $7.1 bil­lion | Own­ers: Jer­ry Buss Fam­i­ly Trusts, Mark Wal­ter, Todd Boehly | Prof­it: $199 mil­lion
  6. New York Giants (NFL): Val­ue: $7.3 bil­lion | Own­ers: John Mara, Steven Tisch | Prof­it: $190 mil­lion
  7. Man­ches­ter Unit­ed (Pre­mier League): Val­ue: $6.55 bil­lion | Own­ers: Glaz­er fam­i­ly, James Rat­cliffe | Prof­it: $187 mil­lion
  8. New York Knicks (NBA): Val­ue: $7.5 bil­lion | Own­er: Madi­son Square Gar­den Sports | Prof­it: $182 mil­lion
  9. Hous­ton Tex­ans (NFL): Val­ue: $6.1 bil­lion | Own­er: Cal McNair | Prof­it: $164 mil­lion
  10. Tot­ten­ham Hot­spur (Pre­mier League): Val­ue: $3.2 bil­lion | Own­ers: Joseph Lewis Fam­i­ly Trust, Daniel Levy | Prof­it: $161 mil­lion

These num­bers high­light the endur­ing prof­itabil­i­ty of major sports fran­chis­es, even amidst eco­nom­ic chal­lenges. For the NFL, the mes­sage is clear: its dom­i­nance extends far beyond the play­ing field. And while fans cheer for their favorite teams on game day, own­ers are cheer­ing all the way to the bank. After all, sports may be fun for spec­ta­tors, but let’s not for­get: it’s a bil­lion-dol­lar busi­ness first and fore­most.