The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to disrupt NFL revenue in 2020 so much that the league revised its collective bargaining agreement in order to spread estimated losses over the course of several future seasons. In terms of total valuation, however, most teams are doing just fine financially. Forbes released its annual list of most valuable sports franchises on Friday, and more than half of this year's top 50 teams worldwide come from the NFL, with the Dallas Cowboys topping the entire list for the fifth straight year.
No sports league has seen team values rise faster over the last decade than the NBA, according to Kurt Badenhausen, but the NFL still reigns supreme as far as holding a majority on the world's top-earning franchises. "Unmatched TV deals" play a big part in that, Badenhausen wrote, and could have even more value as the pandemic wipes out most stadium revenue, but the NFL also benefits from "stable assets" like long-tenured team ownership. And none have benefited more than the Cowboys, who cost Jerry Jones $150 million in 1989.
Dallas ranks above every team in the world with an estimated $5.5 billion value in 2020, including the second-place New York Yankees ($5B). Their valuation is a whopping $1.4 billion more than the next-highest NFL team, the New England Patriots ($4.1B), and more than double that of the lowest NFL team on the list, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($2.2B).
Twenty-seven of the NFL's 32 teams appear on Forbes' top-50 list, with three in the top 10 and nine in the top 20. The only NFL teams not to rank among the most valuable franchises in sports are the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans.
The rest of the NFL teams are ordered as follows:
| Rank | Team | 2020 value (in billions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas Cowboys | $5.50 |
| 2 | New England Patriots | $4.10 |
| 3 | New York Giants | $3.90 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Rams | $3.80 |
| 5 | San Francisco 49ers | $3.50 |
| 6 | Chicago Bears | $3.45 |
| 7 | Washington Football Team | $3.40 |
| 8 | New York Jets | $3.20 |
| 9 | Houston Texans | $3.10 |
| 10 | Philadelphia Eagles | $3.05 |
| 11 | Denver Broncos | $3 |
| 12 | Las Vegas Raiders | $2.90 |
| 13 | Green Bay Packers | $2.85 |
| 14 | Pittsburgh Steelers | $2.80 |
| 15 | Seattle Seahawks | $2.78 |
| 16 | Miami Dolphins | $2.60 |
| 17 | Atlanta Falcons | $2.76 |
| 18 | Baltimore Ravens | $2.75 |
| 19 | Minnesota Vikings | $2.70 |
| 20 | Indianapolis Colts | $2.65 |
| 21 | Los Angeles Chargers | $2.50 |
| 22 | Carolina Panthers | $2.40 |
| 23 | Jacksonville Jaguars | $2.33 |
| 24 | Kansas City Chiefs | $2.30 |
| 25 | New Orleans Saints | $2.28 |
| 26 | Arizona Cardinals | $2.25 |
| 27 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | $2.20 |
