Dallas Cowboys Are the Most Valuable Team in the NFL -- and the World

For a ninth year in a row, the Dallas Cowboys are worth more than any other team in the NFL. Now the franchise holds the top valuation of any team in the world.

The Cowboys have overtaken the No. 1 spot from Real Madrid, which is worth $3.26 billion according to Forbes. The magazine valued Dallas at $4 billion.

Among the world’s priciest sport teams, the New England Patriots also broke the top five. The Patriots are worth approximately $3.2 billion, good for second-best in the league and tied with MLB’s New York Yankees.

Dallas was the only NFL franchise to post more than $500 million in league revenue for the latest fiscal year. The Cowboys booked league revenue of $620 million versus $494 million in New England.

The San Francisco 49ers saw the largest increase in value, 69%, compared to last season. The 49ers moved out of Candlestick Park and into a new $1.2 billion facility, Levi’s Stadium. Revenue from ticket sales, concessions, sponsors and non-football events subsequently jumped 160%, Forbes said.

The Buffalo Bills sit at the bottom of the NFL pack. After the passing of founding owner Ralph Wilson, Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula paid $1.4 billion for a team that booked a $44 million profit in 2014.

NFL teams are worth an average of $1.97 billion, up 38% compared to last year’s estimates.

Based on financial disclosures by the Green Bay Packers, the NFL generated a record $7.3 billion in national revenue during the 2014 season. That’s more than doubled the $3 billion that was divvied up in fiscal-year 2010.

Lucrative television contracts were the primary catalyst for last year’s substantial growth. It was the first season of the NFL’s new nine-year contracts with CBS (NYSE:CBS), NBC and 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA), the parent company of FOX Business.