Top 20 generates US$3.9bn in profit, with NFL franchises averaging US$143m.
The National Football League’s (NFL) Dallas Cowboys have been crowned by Forbes as the world’s most profitable sports team.
Confirmed:
Cowboys brought in an estimated US$564 million in operating income in 2023 Los Angeles Rams a distant second with US$286 million and New England Patriots are third with US$261 million National Hockey League’s (NHL) Edmonton Oilers (US$213 million) and National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Los Angeles Lakers (US$199 million) complete top five Manchester United (US$187 million) are most profitable soccer team, finishing seventh in overall list No Major League Baseball (MLB) team in top 20 Top 20 collectively racked up US$3.9 billion in operating income, equating to US$195 million per team – up 12 per cent from previous year’s top 20
Context:
Already ranked by Forbes as the world’s most valuable sports team, the Cowboys led the way as the most profitable outfit thanks in part to their nearly US$800 million in local revenue from ticket sales, concessions, merchandise and other streams specific to the franchise. In contrast, no other NFL team eclipsed US$400 million in local revenue.
Forbes also noted that playing in a big market also gives the Cowboys a financial advantage, as does controlling its stadium – ensuring it can extract maximum value from revenue sources at the venue.
Overall, the NFL dominated the top 20 with nine teams. There were five from the NBA, three from the NHL and three from English soccer’s Premier League.
NFL teams averaged US$143 million in operating income in 2023 and no franchise had less than US$56 million, according to Forbes estimates.
Among the 174 sports teams Forbes valued in 2024, 141 were profitable and another five broke even. Of the 28 teams that were unprofitable, 15 came from Major League Soccer (MLS). MLB’s New York Mets were deemed to be the world’s most unprofitable sports team, with an estimated US$292 million operating loss in 2023 after the club paid a reported US$101 million in luxury taxes on top of a US$375 million payroll.
Coming next:
Forbes projects that the NBA could soon shake up its most profitable list. The outlet cited the league’s rules for institutional investors, which are looser compared to the NFL’s, and lucrative new domestic media rights deals with Amazon, ESPN and NBC, which are worth a combined US$76 billion over 11 years.