The Dallas Cowboys have made a habit of staying atop the global sports teams valuation charts, and it looks like they won’t be breaking that habit anytime soon. Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million. That deal included $65 million for the franchise and $75 million for Texas Stadium. 37 years later, Jones’ initial investment has yielded over 9,000% of its original purchase price in value, as the Cowboys have been valued at $15.5 billion in recent reports. 

ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter tweeted about this massive valuation update, quoting Sportico’s article, which ranked the Dallas Cowboys at the very top in the highest-valued sports organisations in the world. 

“Sportico once again named the Dallas Cowboys as the most valuable franchise in sports, listing their value at $15.5 billion. Jerry Jones’ franchise has been the most valuable in sports in every iteration of Sportico’s valuations,” Adam Schefter posted on X.

This marks a 21% jump from their valuation in 2025 ($12.8 billion). They currently sit $2.8 billion ahead of the second-place-valued Los Angeles Rams, who came in at $12.7 billion. New York Giants ($12 billion), New England Patriots ($10.4 billion), and New York Jets ($10.35 billion) round out the top 5 per Sportico. 

This marks the 7th straight year that Sportico has ranked the Dallas Cowboys as the undisputed single most valuable team across all sports worldwide. 

Valuation isn’t the only area where the Cowboys are near the top, however. In annual revenue generated, ‘America’s Team’ ($1.3 billion in revenue generated) is second only to La Liga giant Real Madrid (Soccer), which generated $1.39 billion. They were the only NFL franchise to cross the $1 billion revenue mark. 

“It(merchandise) is a business that generates nearly $200 million in annual revenue. Dallas has re-upped several of its biggest sponsors over the past year, and the club’s $300 million in annual sponsorship revenue is nearly twice that of any other team,” Sportico further reported.

The huge popularity of the Cowboys could be attributed to the fact that it is a legacy team and was hugely popular at the time Jones took over the franchise.

He managed to win three Super Bowls within the first decade as the owner of the Cowboys, but since then there has been a drought. Despite that, it’s commendable how Jerry Jones has managed to keep the franchise as successful as it is today.

Jerry Jones’ $15.5B monopoly despite a 30-year Super Bowl drought 

When the Dallas Cowboys last appeared and won the Super Bowl in 1996 (Super Bowl XXX), their valuation was $320 million (1996), per Financial World magazine (the primary sports business publication tracking team valuations before Forbes and Sportico were even established!).

Furthermore, they’ve managed only four playoff game victories since 2000, yet financial growth remains completely unaffected. 

Jerry Jones recently touched upon how they’ve been close to getting over the line, and that if they can improve as a team, the Super Bowl might not be far away.

“I like what we’ve got in our coaching staff, I like what we’ve got in the makeup of our players; I think we’re extraordinarily sound in the way we’re approaching all sides of the ball… I think we can be a contender,” Jerry Jones said when asked about his expectations from the Cowboys heading into the 2026 season, per DallasCowboys.com’s Tommy Yarish.

Talking about their current roster, HC Brian Schottenheimer is entering his 2nd season at the helm. They went 7-9-1 in 2025, failing to make the playoffs. Offensively, America’s Team ranked 2nd in total offense at 391.9 yards per game, with the league’s 2nd-best passing offense (266.3 passing yards/game, 4,527 total passing yards). In stark contrast, however, their defense ranked worst in the league, allowing 30.1 points per game, as per FOX Sports’ 2025 rankings.

However, with QB Dak Prescott and WRs CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens leading a strong offense (recently coined ‘GOTI’, aka ‘Greatest Offense There Is’, by Prescott), Jerry Jones will be hoping their playoff fortunes change in 2026.