Cowboys Top Forbes’s List of Most Profitable Sports Franchises in the World

The NFL ruled the list with 13 of the world's 25 most profitable teams.

To no surprise, the Cowboys are the most profitable team in the world. Forbes released its list of the 25 most profitable sports organizations over the past three years, and the Cowboys lead the way with a $1.171 billion total operating income, the only sports franchise to even surpass $700 million.

Behind Dallas on the list is the Patriots, who made $623 million and are the only other team above the half-a-million threshold. Tottenham Hotspur, the Knicks and Manchester United round out the top five, making in between $403 and $414 million each.

The NFL is the king of profitability, as the league has 13 teams in the top 25 thanks in large part to the structure of the league’s salary cap, which keeps player salaries below 50% of the cap. The league also signed a new TV deal in 2021 that netted each team a total of $198 million of new money.

Meanwhile the NBA has seven and European soccer has five teams to round out the list. Among the European soccer teams, the Premier League has four teams listed, while Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga is the 25th and final team. Forbes also mentioned that its data for European Soccer didn’t include 2022 numbers.

No NHL teams were profitable-enough to make the list, while MLB teams are absent due to getting hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic, a less-rich broadcasting deal and limitations of its competitive balance tax system.