It turns out the Washington Football Team's name change, however temporary, was quite lucrative for team owner Dan Snyder.
According to Forbes' annual valuations of NFL franchises, published on Thursday, Washington became the league's fifth-highest valued team in 2021.
The Dallas Cowboys topped the list again with a valuation of $6.5 billion, a 14 percent gain from its 2020 valuation.
The WFT jumped three spots from its 2020 ranking, leapfrogging the 49ers, Jets and Bears, who respectively ranked fifth, sixth and seventh last year. Those franchises now rank: 49ers (6th), Bears (7th), Jets (8th).
This new valuation is quite a windfall for Snyder. In March, the NFL approved a debt waiver of $450 million to fund Snyder buying out the remaining 40.5 stake of the organization from his minority partners, a deal that reportedly closed for a total of approx. $950 million.
The WFT is now valued at $4.2 billion, a 20 percent increase from its $3.5 billion valuation in 2020. In other words, the franchise's valuation increased by $700 million in the same year Snyder paid $950 million to gain full ownership. All while Snyder's organization was being investigated for rampant claims of sexual harassment.
Washington has an operating income of $25 million, according to Forbes.
All four NFC East teams ranked in the top 10 in 2021:
No. 1 — Cowboys ($6.5B)
No. 3 — Giants ($4.85B)
No. 5 — WFT ($4.2B)
No. 9 — Eagles ($3.8B)
Even as the world struggled through the pandemic, the NFL prospered, with the average value of its 32 teams reaching $3.5 billion, an uptick of 14 percent from the year before.
Forbes largely attributes the substantial league-wide gains to the NFL's new media rights deals signed in March, which total $111.8 billion. Those deals will increase the annual payout to each of the league's 32 teams from $220 million to $377 million.
