Bottom line, the Cowboys are a winner
DALLAS — For a half-century, the Dallas Cowboys’ rivalries have shifted between Green Bay, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and New England when it comes to the business of collecting Lombardi Trophies. Even while stalled at five, the Cowboys rank behind only the Patriots and the Steelers in Super Bowl wins.
Their rival in the sports business world is another matter. If you examine Forbes’ list of the 50 most valuable franchises in the world — where the Cowboys check in at No. 1 for the fourth consecutive year — the only conclusion is that the best comparison to the Cowboys is the New York Knicks. And that’s no place to be. While there’s no way to verify the valuations given by Forbes, one might assume they are on the low side, given that Steve Ballmer bought the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion after their value had been listed here as less than $1 billion. That’s likely an extreme case, given Ballmer’s huge net worth and determination to get his own arena in L.A.
But the Cowboys are now featured as the only sports franchise in the world worth $5 billion. This is based not only on their ability to generate income that blows away its National Football League competition through premium seating and sponsorships, but because the Cowboys appeared in nine of the 50 highest-rated sports TV broadcasts in 2018.
Under Jerry Jones’s stewardship, winning Super Bowls was so 20th century. The brand of America’s Team appears stronger than ever.
It’s one of the reasons I questioned Jones’s inclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame two years ago, although we don’t need to wander down that rabbit hole again. Jones understands the business of business better than any owner in the NFL, and perhaps America. That leads to the misguided belief the business of football is just as strong at the Star and AT&T Stadium as the marketing side of the operation.
When you look at the NFL, NBA and MLB teams near the top of the top 50 list, the only two in the top 10 that have not at least played in a championship game or round since 2000 are the No. 1 Cowboys and the No. 6 Knicks. New York’s ranking is a reminder that you can take your championships and put them over here. There’s still nothing quite like Manhattan real estate when it comes to stacking up the dollars.
The Knicks aren’t even the most important basketball team in their own city, and that’s unlikely to change until Kevin Durant is finished playing or leaves Brooklyn for another team. It doesn’t keep the Knicks’ vilified owner James Dolan from hauling in the chips. I don’t think for a second Jones comes across as misguided or unqualified to guide his organization as Dolan does with the Knicks. But it’s still company you’d rather not keep.
You have to go down to No. 14 with the Washington Redskins to find the next franchise that hasn’t sniffed a title game or round here this century. Again, linked with Dan Snyder? You want to pass on that if you can.
Now, don’t take any of this to mean the Cowboys should be paying their players more than other teams or bowing to every salary demand. Those things are set in stone by a collective bargaining agreement and a franchise tag that limits player movement and inhibits star players from earning salaries they could otherwise command.
But this list should remind all of those who become unnerved by what seems like a daily update on the latest NBA player to make more than $100 million is that all these teams are raking it in, even if not quite at Cowboys levels.
To be in the top 50 this year, a team needed a valuation of $2.075 billion. Five years ago that figure was $875 million. Franchise values are growing at a faster rate than salaries in every sport considered here.
In 2012, Manchester United was the first franchise to be listed with a value of $2 billion. This year, $2 billion was the baseline to make the top 50. Before we thought he was crazy for other reasons, we can all remember thinking Mark Cuban crazy for paying Ross Perot Jr. $280 million to become the majority stakeholder in the Mavericks.
The team checked in at 43rd on this list — eighth among NBA teams — with a value of $2.25 billion.
There’s a reason Cuban is on one side of the Shark Tank screen, and we are on the other.
These teams are swimming in cash.
Even when the numbers sound enormous, don’t fault players for wanting to collect their share during short careers.