By Mary Cunningham
When Jeffrey Lurie (left in photo above with coach Chip Kelly) bought the Eagles from Norman Braman in 1994 for $185 million — with a check co-signed by his mother — it was the highest amount ever paid for a sports franchise in this country.
Today, 20 years later, that $185 million has increased in value to $1.75 billion!
The National Football League continues to be the most lucrative sports league in the world, according to Forbes’ 17th annual NFL Team Valuation list. The average NFL team is worth $1.43 billion, the highest value in all of the 17 years Forbes has tracked professional football team values. The $1.43 billion average is 23% more than a year ago, the biggest year-over-year increase since 1999.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Dallas Cowboys, worth $3.2 billion, are the league’s most valuable team. The only sports team in the world worth more than the Cowboys is Real Madrid, worth $3.4 billion. During the 2013 season, the Dallas Cowboys posted the NFL’s highest revenue ($560 million) and operating income ($246 million).
Rounding out the top five in the NFL are the New England Patriots (No. 2), worth $2.6 billion, and Washington Redskins (No. 3), worth $2.4 billion, New York Giants (No. 4), valued at $2.1 billion, and the Houston Texans (No. 5), valued at $1.85 billion.
For the 2013 season, the average NFL team generated record revenue (net of proceeds used to pay off stadium debt) and operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $299 million and $53 million, respectively. Each of the NFL’s 32 teams took in a record $170 million of national revenue, mainly from league-wide broadcasting and licensing fees. The NFL has the highest TV ratings and broadcasting revenue of any U.S. league.
Forbes’ team values are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on each team’s current stadium (with adjustments for pending new stadiums and renovations).
The Top 10 Most Valuable Teams in the NFL are:
| Rank | Team | Owner | Current | 1-Year | Debt/ | Revenues | Operating |
| 1 | Dallas Cowboys | Jerry Jones | $3.2 | 39% | 6% | $560 | $246 |
| 2 | New England Patriots | Robert Kraft | 2.6 | 44 | 9 | 428 | 147 |
| 3 | Washington Redskins | Daniel Snyder | 2.4 | 41 | 10 | 395 | 143 |
| 4 | New York Giants | John Mara, Steven Tisch | 2.1 | 35 | 25 | 353 | 87 |
| 5 | Houston Texans | Robert McNair | 1.85 | 28 | 11 | 339 | 103 |
| 6 | New York Jets | Robert Wood Johnson IV | 1.8 | 30 | 33 | 333 | 80 |
| 7 | Philadelphia Eagles | Jeffrey Lurie | 1.75 | 33 | 11 | 330 | 73 |
| 8 | Chicago Bears | McCaskey Family | 1.7 | 36 | 6 | 309 | 57 |
| 9 | San Francisco 49ers | Denise DeBartolo York,John York | 1.6 | 31 | 53 | 270 | 25 |
| 10 | Baltimore Ravens | Stephen Bisciotti | 1.5 |
