That total put Dallas more than $200 million ahead of the second most profitable franchise, the NBA\u2019s Golden State Warriors with $409 million in operating income last season.<\/p>\n
Though the Cowboys didn\u2019t get to the Super Bowl this season, another team in the top five \u2014 the Patriots \u2014 did. And the third most profitable franchise in the world \u2014 the Rams \u2014 almost did, losing a close game to the Seahawks on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Among the 211 franchises that Forbes valued in 2025 across 13 leagues, only 28 generated more in revenue than the Cowboys made in operating income during the most recent season with available data.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/KEBJC53CUFBRLHVOFOUQ46QR3Y.jpg\")
The words “Choose Love” are displayed in the end zone at AT&T Stadium before a NFL football game between the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. | Matt Patterson, Associated Press <\/p>\n
The world\u2019s 20 most profitable teams brought in a combined $4.5 billion or an average of $226 million, up 16% from the previous year\u2019s $3.9 billion and $195 million, per Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The NFL has the most teams with seven, followed by the NBA with six. The NHL and the Premier League each have three, while Formula 1 has one.<\/p>\n Not all pro sports teams make money<\/p>\n \u201cA generation ago, sports franchises were not necessarily expected to stay in the black, and team owners typically made their money whenever they eventually decided to sell their stakes. Even today, profitability is not a given: Among the 185 men\u2019s sports teams valued by Forbes in 2025, an estimated 37 failed to reach break-even, including 16 clubs from MLS and 11 from MLB,\u201d according to Forbes.<\/p>\n The New York Mets, for example, lost an estimated $268 million in 2024, according to Forbes estimates, largely due to league-imposed luxury tax penalties.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestor expectations are shifting, however. Teams are wringing considerably more money out of their sponsorships<\/a> and premium seating<\/a>, and with a surge in national media rights fees, they can count on much more lucrative distributions from their leagues,” per Forbes.<\/p>\n NFL franchises each received an estimated $443 million from the league last season.<\/p>\n \u201cWith that kind of cushion, NFL teams are almost guaranteed profitability, and no franchise posted operating income worse than $21 million in 2024, with an average of $127 million,\u201d according to Forbes.<\/p>\n The most profitable ranking reflects Forbes\u2019 estimates of operating income for the most recent season with available data (2024 for MLB, MLS, the NFL, the NWSL and the WNBA; 2024-25 for the NBA and the NHL; and 2023-24 for European soccer).<\/p>\n The 10 most profitable sports teams in the world, per Forbes:TeamLeagueOperating Income1Dallas CowboysNFL$629 million2Golden State WarriorsNBA$409 million3 (tie)Los Angeles RamsNFL$244 million3 (tie)Edmonton OilersNHL$244 million6New England PatriotsNFL$222 million7 (tie)Atlanta HawksNBA$203 million7 (tie)Philadelphia 76ersNBA$203 million9 (tie)Houston RocketsNBA$191 million9 (tie)Toronto Maple LeafsNHL$191 million11Manchester UnitedPremier League$185 million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable and profitable sports team in the world.NFL and NBA teams dominate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,1852,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-707520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-news-feed-national","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115964019869388908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/R7PTQYXDXZDF5NSXQO2PEJIXLE.jpg\")
New York Mets’ Pete Alonso gathers his belongings in the dugout after the Mets lost to the Miami Marlins in a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Miami. | Lynne Sladky, Associated Press <\/p>\n