It was good news all around for the NFL on Wednesday morning, as the sports business website Sportico released its annual franchise valuations and found that the league is in quite the good spot–on average, the 32 teams in the league are up in valuation by 31%. But no one is happier than Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, whose team remains at the top of the charts, worth an astonishing $15.5 billion, according to the site.
The Cowboys were worth $12.8 billion according to Sportico last year. They’ve experienced a change of 21% in just one year.
The other major franchise valuation site, Forbes, has not done its numbers yet (they typically come out in late August) but the Cowboys were No. 1 on their last last year, too, though at $10 billion. Sportico bases its valuations on the potential estimated sale price of a team, while Forbes takes assets and debts more into consideration.
Jerry Jones Paid $140 Million for Cowboys
In every year that Sportico has valued NFL franchises, in fact, the Cowboys have ranked No. 1. Though it has been 30 years since the Cowboys won a Super Bowl, Jones has done well for himself–he paid $140 million for the team in 1989.
From the Sportico site: “The Dallas Cowboys lead the way for the seventh straight year at $15.5 billion, up 21% from 2025. The Los Angeles Rams ($12.7 billion), New York Giants ($12 billion), New England Patriots ($10.4 billion) and New York Jets ($10.35 billion) round out the top five.
“The 32 teams are collectively worth $299 billion, including real estate and related businesses, such as the Cowboys’ sports components of The Star mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas.”
Cowboys ‘Don’t Have to Win the Super Bowl’
Still, the Cowboys’ astronomical valuation has managed to come with just four playoff wins this century, proof positive that the team’s brand extends well beyond what it accomplishes on the field. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter said, winning a Super Bowl is not really necessary for Jones to have a very good year, at least on the balance sheet.
The Seahawks won the Super Bowl, then were sold at a hefty price, which benefitted everyone in the league.
“We saw the Seahawks sold this year for $9.612 billion,” Schefter said in an appearance on “Get Up.” “That obviously helped boost the value of the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t think the Cowboys have to win the Super Bowl to see it take a huge rise every year. Every year it goes up by a couple of billion dollars.”
Jerry Jones Is ‘Urgent’
Of course, Jones has publicly said how important winning a Super Bowl is for the Cowboys, and there’s no reason to doubt him on that front. Certainly, at age 83–he will be 84 in October–Jones is feeling antsy to get back to the mountaintop.
As quarterback Dak Prescott told Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein: “This is as urgent as I’ve ever felt Jerry. Sure, there’s times he’s said it, and then we’ve looked up and he hadn’t done much in free agency. Or this, this and that. But starting from free agency, they started doing things they hadn’t done. And it’s kudos to [head coach Brian Schottenheimer] and [vice president of player personnel] Will [McClay] and the whole team, but it’s also Jerry making that decision of being aggressive and trying to go out and get what he wants.”
Cowboys Get Stunning $15.5 Billion News as Super Bowl Hunt Continues