NFL franchise valuations have risen 20% in the last year

The Dallas Cowboys are still the biggest team by far.

8/15/25 6:58AM

We’re now less than three weeks away from the opening game of the 2025-26 NFL season, when Super Bowl LIX champions the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Dallas Cowboys to get this year’s action underway. Though the Eagles will be going into the game as the odds-on favorite, there’s no competition between the two when it comes to the size of the franchises off the field.

Per the latest annual NFL franchise valuation figures from Sportico released earlier this week, the Dallas Cowboys are (again) the league’s most valuable team by far — worth a staggering $12.8 billion, according to the publication’s estimates. That’s more than steak chain Texas Roadhouse ($11.5 billion), but some way off Texas Instruments ($176 billion).

It’s not just the Cowboys that have bloomed to become a huge, over $10 billion business, though; the NFL’s decision last August to open up the league to private equity dealmakers has seen two other sides join the 11-digit club and helped bump franchise valuation estimates by 20% on average over the past 12 months.

NHS franchise valuations chart — Sherwood News

Sportico put the value of the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants at $10.4 billion and $10.3 billion, respectively, having both risen 34% each over the last year, based on local and national revenues, wider transaction metrics, and team-specific multipliers.

Climbing valuations across the board mean that the average NFL side is now worth $7.13 billion, compared to the average $4.6 billion estimates in the NBA — calculated before the approved $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics made it the most expensive franchise in US sports history on Wednesday — and $2.82 billion in the MLB, from Sportico’s figures.

Max Knoblauch19h

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.