The NFL is big business. Few investments in the sports universe are as fruitful as NFL team ownership, and the latest year-over-year data shows that the league is growing in value at a dizzying pace. According to Sportico’s annual team valuation report, the average franchise is worth $9.34 billion heading into the 2026 season, which marks a 31% increase from last year’s average of $7.13 billion. That is the largest single-year jump in at least a decade.
The Dallas Cowboys remain the gold standard with a $15.5 billion valuation. They have been the highest-priced club in the world since Sportico first published its rankings in 2020. A number that is perhaps even more telling of the NFL’s market dominance is the Cincinnati Bengals‘ $7.4 billion valuation. While the Bengals hold the smallest price tag in the league for the seventh straight year, only six teams in the world outside of the NFL are worth more.
This summer saw the largest purchase in league history. The reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks announced in July that a group led by Vinod Khosla agreed to buy them for a record $9.6 billion. That number is 59% greater than the previous record of $6.05 billion, which Josh Harris set when he bought the Washington Commanders in July 2023. It also makes the Seahawks the 12th-most-valuable team in the league, up from last year’s No. 14 ranking.
Here are a few superlatives from Sportico’s 2026 NFL team valuations.
Most valuable: Dallas Cowboys ($15.5 billion)
Two years ago, the Cowboys became the first pro sports team to hold a $10 billion valuation. Now they are the first to cross the $15 billion mark. If Jerry Jones ever sells the franchise, he could effectively choose his number considering the Cowboys are the industry standard. In 2018, he said he would not take less than $10 billion for the team, so one can only imagine what his asking price would be after nearly a decade of appreciation. Despite missing the playoffs in back-to-back years and going without a conference title since 1995, “America’s Team” is as culturally iconic as ever.
Least valuable: Cincinnati Bengals ($7.4 billion)
The Bengals have been to a Super Bowl and another AFC Championship Game in the last five years, and they boast as exciting of an offense as anyone with Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at the center of the show. On-field success only plays a small role in determining a franchise’s value, though. As a small-market team whose stadium is owned by the county, the Bengals’ assets and brand power pale in comparison to those at the top of the league. Still, by nature of existing inside the behemoth that is the NFL, Cincinnati towers over many of the world’s most recognizable clubs. The only non-football teams worth more are the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Real Madrid.
Biggest value gain: Seattle Seahawks (46%)
NFL owners will hold a special meeting on Aug. 26 to vote on the Seahawks’ sale, which will bring the franchise’s first ownership change since the late Paul Allen purchased the team for $194 million in 1997. Allen’s will stipulates that the proceeds from the sale must be donated to multiple charities, and most of that money will go to the Paul G. Allen Foundation. This is the soonest in the Super Bowl era that a team has hit the market after winning a championship.
Smallest value gain: New York Giants (17%)
The Giants hold a $12 billion valuation, which is good for the third-largest in the NFL. But while the teams around them in the rankings mostly appreciated by at least 20%, their change was slightly more modest. A consistent lack of team success — with just one 10-win season since 2010 and two playoff appearances since the 2011 Super Bowl campaign — is a knock against a franchise that has so much else going for it. Exposure to the New York market and a rich history of eight league championships keeps them in rare air. They slipped to the No. 4 spot across all sports, however, with the reported sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion.
Biggest rankings risers: New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons (+3)
There is a new team inside the top 10 and another inside the top 5. The Falcons are up three spots this year to No. 10 with their $9.78 billion valuation, which represents a 39% increase. Managing the revenue streams from Mercedes-Benz stadium is a financial boon with the venue cementing itself as a premier destination for massive events like the College Football Playoff and, most recently, the World Cup. The Jets, meanwhile, climbed to No. 5. Their $10.35 billion valuation is a 28% year-over-year increase, which speaks far more to their market size and business deals than team success.
Biggest rankings faller: Green Bay Packers (-4)
The odds of the Packers ever going up for sale are effectively zero due to their unique ownership structure, but in the hypothetical scenario in which they did hit the market, investors would see a price tag in the realm of their 22nd-largest valuation in the NFL ($8.59 billion). Four teams — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns — leaped past them in this year’s rankings. The Packers are the only NFL team owned by a public corporation (Green Bay Packers, Inc.) and the only non-profit professional sports franchise in the United States.
