Eat That, New York: Cowboys Still the Most Valuable Team in Football

With the NFL season set to kick off with tonight's Cowboys-Giants matchup in New York, it's easy to be distracted by debates about who has the better team or who will score the most points and lose focus of what really matters in professional football: money. By that measure --...

By Eric Nicholson

September 5, 2012

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With the NFL season set to kick off with tonight's Cowboys-Giants matchup in New York, it's easy to be distracted by debates about who has the better team or who will score the most points and lose focus of what really matters in professional football: money.

By that measure -- and only that measure -- the Cowboys are the best team in the league. According to Forbes annual ranking, the Cowboys are worth a ludicrous $2.1 billion, making them the second sports franchise in the world to eclipse the $2 billion mark after Manchester United. The 14 percent increase over last year was driven largely by revenue from Cowboys Stadium. The Giants, on the other hand, come in at No. 5 with a laughable $1.5 billion value and a load of debt.

So, as you watch tonight's game and bemoan the fact that, while the Giants have won two Super Bowls in five years, the Cowboys have been mediocre since the 1990s, just remind yourself that Jerry Jones is making a killing. It'll make missing the playoffs easier to bear.

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