When it comes to being valuable, the NFL dominates the list of the world's most valuable and that holds true in Minnesota as well.
With a value at just over $5 billion, Forbes Magazine's list puts the Minnesota Vikings at number 33 out of the 50 most valuable franchises in the world. The Vikings actually dropped slightly. They were number 23 last year. Owner Zygi Wilf and five partners purchased the Minnesota Vikings from Red McCombs in 2005 for a reported $600 million.
The NFL has 29 franchises on the list of 50 making it by far the most valuable. The NBA has a dozen teams, twice as many as it did last year.
For a ninth straight year, the Dallas Cowboys are still number one. Jerry Jones' team is valued at $10 billion. Just seven years ago, the Cowboys were valued at $4.2 billion, which would place them 50th on this year’s list. That $10 billion is quite an investment by Jones. He bought "America's Team" in 1989 for the bargain basement price of $140 million.
The NBA’s Golden State Warriors are second this year, at $8.8 billion, while the LA Rams, NY Yankees, and NY Knicks round out the top five.
It's the NBA that is moving though. That league saw a 15% increase over 2023 and a staggering 596% jump from a decade ago according to Forbes.
While the NBA is quickly gaining in value, Major League Baseball - especially with all their TV troubles - is dropping. MLB lost two teams from the top 50 (the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants). There are now just three MLB franchises in the top 50 with the LA Dodgers and Boston Red Sox joining the Yankees on the list.
Since 2015, Forbes' tracking shows that team values have skyrocketed. That increase has only sped up since 2021 as well. Combined, the 50 most valuable teams are worth just under $289 billion, or an average of roughly $5.8 billion, up 13% from 2023. The cutoff is also at record levels, rising 16% to $4.3 billion from last year’s $3.7 billion. In fact, this year’s last-place team would have been No. 1 just seven years ago, when the Cowboys led the ranking at $4.2 billion.
You can see the entire list and breakdown from Forbes here.