The World's Most Profitable Sports Teams 2025

Forbes

The Dallas Cowboys lead a top 20 that collectively racked up $3.9 billion in operating income, but the NBA’s new media deals could soon shift the balance of power.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2025/01/09/the-worlds-most-profitable-sports-teams-2025/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the world's most profitable sports teams 2025.

00:06NFL teams don't have to work all that hard to cover their expenses these days,

00:11with each collecting an estimated $323 million from the league's national media and sponsorship

00:17deals during the 2023 season before selling a single ticket. But the Dallas Cowboys aren't

00:24thinking about breaking even, they're breaking the bank. The world's most valuable sports team,

00:29worth $10.1 billion, is also the world's most profitable, with Jerry Jones' boys hauling in

00:36an estimated $564 million in operating income in 2023. The second most profitable team,

00:44the Los Angeles Rams, barely reached half that figure, at $286 million,

00:50while the New England Patriots landed at number three with $261 million.

00:55In all, the 20 most profitable sports teams feature nine NFL franchises, along with five

01:02from the NBA, three from the NHL, and three from England's Premier League. Together,

01:09they generated an estimated $3.9 billion in profit during the most recent season with available data,

01:15or an average of $195 million per team, up 12% from the previous year's top 20.

01:23The Cowboys stand out thanks to their nearly $800 million in local revenue,

01:27from ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and other streams specific to the club.

01:32No other pro football team crossed $400 million. But Dallas does offer a more replicable model

01:39in other respects, starting with the fact that it comes from the NFL, where teams averaged $143

01:46million in operating income in 2023, and no franchise had less than $56 million,

01:52according to Forbes estimates. Playing in a big market also gives America's team a financial

01:57advantage, and controlling its stadium ensures it can extract maximum value from revenue sources,

02:03including sponsorships and luxury suites, as well as concerts and other non-sports events

02:08held at the venue. It doesn't hurt, either, that the NFL, like the NBA and the NHL,

02:15keep spending in check with a salary cap system and a collectively bargained split of league-wide

02:20revenue between players and team owners. In European soccer leagues, by comparison,

02:26UEFA's financial fair play regulations keep payrolls in line with club revenue,

02:31but there is otherwise no limit on transfer fees or salaries, a major reason that powerhouses like

02:37Barcelona, which had a $145 million operating loss during the 2022-23 season, and Paris Saint-Germain,

02:45with a $126 million operating loss, don't come anywhere near the list of the world's most

02:50profitable sports teams. Similarly, Major League Baseball has a so-called

02:56competitive balance tax to discourage excessive player spending, but no firm cap. That system

03:02makes the New York Mets the world's most unprofitable sports team, with an estimated $292

03:07million operating loss in 2023 after the club paid a reported $101 million in luxury taxes

03:14on top of a $375 million payroll. The Mets are just as much of an outlier as the Cowboys,

03:21however. Among the 174 sports teams Forbes valued in 2024, 141 were profitable, and another five

03:30broke even. And of the 28 teams that were in the red, 15 came from the still relatively fledgling

03:36Major League Soccer. Long gone are the days when team ownership was merely a matter of ego,

03:42or a bet that the capital gains in an eventual sale would outweigh any losses incurred along the

03:47way. Now, profitability is the expectation, which helps explain why private equity firms

03:53and other institutional investors are suddenly so eager to sink their teeth into sports teams.

03:59The NFL, of course, is a tantalizing target, after the league began to allow private equity

04:04firms to acquire minority team stakes in August. But the NBA, which selected its first private

04:10equity partner in 2020 and has looser rules for institutional investors than the NFL,

04:15could soon shake up the most profitable list. The league's new national media deals, which take

04:21effect next season, are worth more than double its current package, sending a money-making machine

04:27into overdrive. For full coverage and to see the whole list, check out Brett Knight and Justin

04:33Teitelbaum's piece on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Recommended