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The Philadelphia Eagles are Now the 6th Most Valuable NFL Franchise
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
The Philadelphia Eagles climbed two spots to the #6 richest NFL franchise off the backs of $18.50 beers! Just kidding. It’s because they have a fanbase that’ll pay those astronomical concession prices, line up around the stadium for jersey releases, and it doesn’t hurt that the Eagles have won multiple Super Bowls in six years while Jeffrey Lurie sold off some of the business. The Eagles currently are valued at $8.43 billion, up 25% from last year, according to Sportico:
- Cowboys: $12.8 billion
- Rams: $10.43 billion
- Giants: $10.25 billion
- Patriots: $8.76 billion
- 49ers: $8.6 billion
- Eagles: $8.43 billion
- Dolphins: $8.25 billion
- Jets: $8.11 billion
The rich keep getting richer. The average NFL valuation is $7 billion now, which is double what it was only four years ago. It’s pretty impressive the climb the Eagles have made. Since 2020, when the Birds ranked ninth, the Eagles have jumped the Commies, Bears, and Jets. Those teams now find themselves ranked 10th, 11th, and eighth in this year’s list.
I’m not going to pretend to know how valuations work, but the Sportico article has their formula at the bottom of the page. It’s “the sum of the enterprise value of an NFL franchise combined with the value of team-related businesses and real estate holdings.” But bottom line, the NFL looks to be king for the foreseeable future. It wasn’t too long ago soccer teams around the world like Man U and Real Madrid were the gold standard, but NFL teams are now going toe to toe with and beating everyone. Last year Madrid and the Eagles were tied at #12 in Forbes’ rankings. There were seven NFL, one MLB, and three NBA teams ahead of them. Now we’re watching NFL owners sell off a percentage of their stake. You had Lurie and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross do it and the 49ers are currently in the process. Is this owners ensuring a cut in case the NFL bubble bursts, do they think these valuations aren’t sustainable so they want to sell at its peak, or do they just want to buy another yacht? It’s most likely the third one. But it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds as they start letting these private equity groups take a 10% stake in the team. It’s most likely you’ve had your quality of life affected by private equity cause it’s everywhere nowadays. Hospitals, your lunch at P.F. Changs, and probably even the company you work for. Every year less and less people in America are interested or able to buy an NFL team as these valuations skyrocket, so you’ll see some of these owners age out and their families don’t want anything to do with the team (Broncos) so they sell it off. The Broncos were bought by the Waltons, who own Wal-Mart and sit on gold-plated toilets, but how long until even those dynasties are priced out? You gotta wonder if the NFL will one day look like the EPL, where you have Russian oligarchs and Middle Eastern oil sheiks running teams because no one can afford them. It’ll also be interesting to see how far the NFL will allow private equity’s stake to increase if this occurs. I know half the people reading this don’t give a shit about the inner workings of rich guys getting richer, but I find it fascinating. How’s Bobby from Bridesburg gonna react when Sheik Mohammed bin Al Rashid isn’t a Philly guy, bro??? What’s next? We let a Patriots fan run the team?!?!?!
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Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com