A National Football League group today is a $6.5 billion service.
That is the typical worth of the NFL’s 32 franchise business, according to’s Official 2024 NFLTeam Valuations Pro football groups have actually been a rewarding property for proprietors in one of the most prominent united state sporting activities organization: The returns they have actually seen on their first financial investments overshadow the gains of typical supplies over coordinating period.
Take, as an example, the Houston Texans,No 11 on’s 2024 worth positions. Back in 1999, the last time the NFL broadened, the late Robert McNair accepted purchase the legal rights to the franchise business at an acquisition cost of $600 million, which considers settlement framework and the worth of an offer in time. The Texans are currently worth $6.35 billion, greater than 10 times McNair’s charge and 3 times greater than the gains of the S&P 500 because that year.
That’s tolerable for a group that has a document of 152-202-1 over its 22 periods and has actually never ever made it to the Super Bowl.
And the Texans aren’t alone.
Across the previous 10 NFL groups to be offered, 7 of the 10 surpass the S&P 500 on a percentage-gained basis in the duration considering that the sale. The Washington Commanders and the Denver Broncos–No 13 andNo 14 on’s 2024 group assessments listing, specifically– underperform more comprehensive market gains and, especially, were offered within the previous 2 years. The Miami Dolphins,No 8 on’s listing, additionally delay the S&P, however were last offered in 2009 when the securities market was arising from a base after obtaining pounded throughout the 2007-08 economic dilemma.
Rising assessments
The rise in football group worths is mainly the outcome of the organization’s massive and growing media deals.
The NFL’s current television agreements with Comcast, Disney, Paramount and Fox, which began last season, are worth an average of $9.2 billion a year, 85% more than the previous deals.
Add in the streaming deals with YouTube for NFL Sunday Ticket and with Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football, and the NFL is guaranteed an average of $12.4 billion a year through 2032 — almost double the $6.48 billion a year it collected during its previous media rights cycle.
On top of those bulk agreements, the league has been boosting its media revenue by selling additional streaming games.
Last season, the NFL sold exclusive streaming rights to a Wild Card playoff game to Comcast’s Peacock streaming service for $110 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The league sold three exclusive streaming packages for this season: two Christmas Day games on Netflix for a total of $150 million; a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime for $120 million; and an international regular-season game on Peacock for $80 million, according to the person familiar with the agreements. The league should get about $200 million for its commercial Sunday Ticket rights, which gets an array of NFL games into bars and restaurants, according to the person familiar with the matter.
All of those agreements combined bring total media rights fees to $357 million per team, up from $325 million in 2023.
sources requested anonymity to discuss the specifics of deals that aren’t publicly available.
A detail view of a broadcast camera is seen with the NFL crest and ESPN Monday Night Football logo on it during a game between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2021.
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
A rising tide lifts all boats in the NFL. The 32 teams share the national media deal revenue evenly, along with money from leaguewide sponsorship and licensing deals and 34% of gate receipts. In 2023, $13.68 billion, or 67%, of the NFL’s $20.47 billion in revenue was shared equally.
When such large revenue sharing is combined with a salary cap that limits player spending to about 49% of revenue, teams in small markets such as Green Bay; Wisconsin; and Buffalo, New York, can compete with big-market teams in New York and Los Angeles. The small-market Kansas City Chiefs, No. 18 on ‘s 2024 valuation rankings, have won the past two Super Bowls and three of the past five.
But there is still a wide chasm in team values, largely due to stadiums. Teams do not share revenue from luxury suites, on-site restaurants, merchandise stores, sponsorships or non-NFL events at their stadiums.
Last year, that made a bigger difference than usual.
Taylor Swift performs during her The Eras Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Aug. 7, 2023.
Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Pop star Taylor Swift performed at several NFL stadiums last year as part of her blockbuster Eras Tour, including Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium, New England’s Gillette Stadium and Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. One Eras Tour stop netted $4 million in revenue per show for the hosting stadium, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
The Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium, also an Eras Tour stop, raked in more than $30 million last year from college football games, soccer matches, concerts, festivals and tennis matches — and it could double that this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Return on investment
The revenue sharing and salary-cap agreements also make the league very profitable.
During the 2023 season, the NFL’s 32 teams generated average revenue of $640 million and average operating income — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of $127 million. The typical NFL team has an EBITDA margin of 19%.
Financial success for the NFL has meant higher premiums for team sales.
Ryan Flournoy, #18 of the Dallas Cowboys, catches a touchdown pass as Matt Hankins, #23 of the Los Angeles Chargers, defends during the first half of a preseason game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 24, 2024.
Ron Jenkins | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Two years ago, Walmart heir Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion, or 8.8-times the team’s revenue. But these days, a prospective owner would be hard-pressed to pay less than 10-times revenue for a team. The average value-to-revenue multiple in ‘s 2024 ranking of all 32 teams is 10.2.
Last year, private equity billionaire Josh Harris purchased the Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion, or 11-times revenue. Earlier this year, a prospective owner looked into buying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for about $6 billion, which would have valued the team at 9.4-times revenue, according to two people familiar with the matter.
When teams do change hands, they have proven to be a smart investment.
The league’s most valuable team, the Dallas Cowboys, is worth $11 billion — 73 times what owner Jerry Jones paid for the team in 1989. The S&P 500 is up just 18-fold since Jones bought the Cowboys.
The Cowboys posted by far the most revenue of any team in the league last year, at $1.22 billion, and the most operating income, at $550 million, in large part because of sponsorship revenue. Dallas is approaching an NFL-leading $250 million in revenue from sponsors, according to sources.
Owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys attends training camp at River Ridge Complex in Oxnard, California, on July 24, 2021.
Jayne Kamin-oncea | Getty Images
The Los Angeles Rams, No. 2 on ‘s 2024 valuations list, were also No. 2 in revenue, with $825 million. The Rams were also second in the league in sponsorship revenue and brought in some serious money by hosting more than 25 nonfootball events at SoFi Stadium, including six sold-out nights of Swift’s Eras Tour and three of Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, as well as concerts for Ed Sheeran, Metallica and Pink.
The Rams, who were in St. Louis when sports and entertainment mogul Stanley Kroenke bought the team for $750 million in 2010, are now worth $8 billion. Even factoring in the $550 million relocation fee Kroenke had to pay the league to move the team to Los Angeles, as well as a $571 million settlement fee related to legal challenges for relocating, his investment is up more than four-fold.
The rise in NFL team values explains why private equity firms are chomping at the bit to invest in the league.
For several years now, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer have all permitted institutional investors to buy limited partner stakes in teams. European soccer leagues such as the English Premier League have also.
The NFL followed suit just last week. The league owners voted to allow a select group of private equity firms — Ares Management, Sixth Street Partners, Arctos Partners and an investing consortium made up of Dynasty Equity, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, CVC Capital Partners and Ludis — to take up to 10% stakes in NFL franchises. The firms committed $12 billion in capital over time, people familiar with the matter told .
Allowing private equity firms to invest in the league should make it easier to finance the purchase of a team.
Even the lowest-valued team on ‘s list, the Cincinnati Bengals, is worth $5.25 billion.
Factoring in the league’s maximum allowable debt of $1.4 billion, that leaves an equity burden of $3.8 billion. Assuming a general partner would hold the minimum required 30%, limited partners need to put in a combined $2.7 billion to get in the game.
Disclosure: Peacock is the streaming service of NBCUniversal, the parent company of .
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Correction: This tale has actually been upgraded to fix that a possible proprietor considered acquiring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers previously this year for regarding $6 billion, according to 2 individuals acquainted. An earlier variation misidentified the interested celebration.
