Now that the NFL, the richest sports league in the world, sits unchallenged atop American sports, that lofty perch raises its own questions: How can you sustain growth and popularity without falling prey to complacency—or greed? How do you further grow a successful league while fending off platform decay and lawsuits? What threats are out there, and what are the league’s tactics to defang them? What are some unchartered territories for the league? In its annual NFL preview, Sportico analyzes how the NFL handles life as a monopoly. Click here to read the series.
Sportico’s recent NFL team valuations highlight the league’s dominant position in the sports team ecosystem. All 32 teams rank among the world’s 40 most valuable sports franchises. The $9.34 billion average value of NFL teams has tripled since Sportico first calculated valuations in 2020.
A real-world example of that: The Khosla family bought the Seattle Seahawks for $9.612 billion, 48x what Paul Allen paid for the franchise in 1997.
“We are huge fans of football, and these opportunities, especially Super Bowl-winning teams, seldom come along,” Vinod Khosla said last month moments after being approved to buy the Seahawks. “I’ve been tied to the Seattle tech community for a long time, so it was pretty easy to make the jump.”
