The Dallas Cowboys are back on top of Sportico’s annual franchise rankings, and the gap is as eye-popping as ever.
Sportico valued the Cowboys at $15.5B on Wednesday, keeping them ahead of every other professional sports franchise. The closest NFL rival is the Los Angeles Rams at $12.7B, leaving Dallas with a lead of almost $3 billion.
The money flowing through the Cowboys’ operation is just as striking. Sportico put Dallas at $510M in operating profit last year, exactly double the Rams’ $255M. The team’s $1.3 billion in revenue trails only Real Madrid among sports franchises, and its local revenue is nearly 70% higher than the Rams’ figure in second.
Dallas also posted an estimated $510 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, twice the Rams’ total and nearly four times the league average EBITDA of $139 million. Real Madrid’s EBITDA before player trading was $279 million.
One reason the Cowboys keep printing money: they are the only team outside the league’s shared merchandise system, which brings in nearly $200 million in annual revenue. Add in a roster of major sponsors that the club has re-upped over the past year, and Dallas’ $300 million in annual sponsorship revenue lands at nearly twice that of any other team.
The Cowboys also rank among the top revenue generators beyond NFL games, joining the Rams, Dolphins, Raiders and Atlanta Falcons. Sportico said top clubs can clear more than $100 million in gross revenue from concerts and other events, with profits reaching the tens of millions, and those figures are included in its reporting.
None of that changes the basic reality: the Cowboys are worth a staggering amount of money, and if they ever hit the market, the price would be hard to even wrap your head around. Sportico’s report dropped around the same time the Los Angeles Lakers were sold for $12.5B, a number that would still sit well below what Dallas would command.
In Other News...
Sean McVay Just Gave Cowboys Fans Real Hope About This Defense
The Cowboys defense has been one of the more encouraging parts of camp, and a strong preseason showing against the Rams only added to that impression. In joint practice and game action, Dallas gave Los Angeles enough problems to draw praise from Sean McVay, who pointed to the way the roster has been reshaped and singled out players such as Justin Barron and Shavon Revel for standing out.
For a unit that has been under the microscope, that kind of outside respect matters. The front seven in particular looks improved, and the overall defensive group has shown more pop than plenty of people expected this early. The bigger question now is whether those flashes in August can turn into something sturdier once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Offseason Hype Just Ran Into A Brutal Reality Check
The Cowboys head into 2026 with one of the leagues rarest advantages, bringing back all 11 offensive starters while pairing that continuity with a defense that has been completely reworked under a first-year coordinator. On paper, it is the kind of setup that can fuel real optimism in Dallas, especially when so much of the roster is already familiar and the offensive side does not have to spend August learning on the fly.
Still, the early outside read on the Cowboys has been far less enthusiastic. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk slotted them 17th in his preseason power rankings and made it clear he is not ready to buy into Super Bowl talk, citing the franchises long history as part of the skepticism. The first chance to see any of that new-look roster in action comes in a preseason game against the Seahawks, though the starters are not expected to play, leaving the bigger questions for later. [Read more 🡒]
Tony Romo Suddenly Faces A Career Threat Cowboys Fans Didn't Expect
Tony Romos post-playing career has hit an unexpected pause, with CBS Sports putting the former Cowboys quarterback on leave after his July 23 arrest in Wisconsin. The network has not made a final call on his future, but the situation has quickly become one of the biggest questions around one of the NFLs most visible broadcasters, especially for fans who have followed his transition from the Dallas huddle to the TV booth.
For now, the matter is headed toward court, with Romo scheduled to appear on September 21. In the meantime, CBS is keeping its options open, even as former analyst Boomer Esiason has suggested Romos run at the network could be finished, leaving a familiar name from Cowboys history in the middle of an uncertain stretch. [Read more 🡒]