Sports

Ranked: Revenue of Top Sports Teams in North America, by League

Published

2 months ago

August 25, 2024

Dorothy Neufeld

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Use This Visualization

Compared: Revenue of Top Sports Teams in North America

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Professional sports teams earn hundreds of millions in revenue each year, driven by sponsorship deals, ticket sales, and shared media and broadcasting rights.

The above graphic shows the highest-earning sports teams across each major league, based on data from Forbes compiled by JP Morgan Asset Management.

The NFL’s Highest-Earning Sports Teams

As the below table shows, the Dallas Cowboys earned a stunning $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022, the highest across any other team in North America by far.

Rank	NFL Team	2022 Revenue
1	Dallas Cowboys	$1.1B
2	Las Vegas Raiders	$729M
3	Los Angeles Rams	$686M
4	New England Patriots	$684M
5	New York Giants	$639M
Top 5 Total Revenue		$3.9B

Ranking in second are the Las Vegas Raiders, whose valuation has soared from $1.4 billion in 2015 to over $6.2 billion in 2024. The team moved from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, making the $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium their home.

Together, the top five highest earning NFL teams generated $3.9 billion in revenue in 2022, outpacing the top five in all other leagues by over $1 billion.

Highest-Earning Teams in the NBA

San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors are the richest sports team in the NBA, bringing in $765 million over the 2022-2023 season.

Thanks largely to the star power of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, the Warriors were the second-highest earning team across the big four leagues. Over the last five years, the Warrior’s revenue has grown by 14% annually, the fastest rate in the league.

Rank	NBA Team	2022-2023 Revenue
1	Golden State Warriors	$765M
2	Los Angeles Lakers	$516M
3	New York Knicks	$504M
4	Boston Celtics	$443M
5	Dallas Mavericks	$429M
Top 5 Total Revenue		$2.7B

The MLB’s Highest-Earning Sports Teams

When it comes to the MLB, the New York Yankees take top spot, outpacing the Los Angeles Dodgers by $130 million in revenue in 2022.

Rank	MLB Team	2022 Revenue
1	New York Yankees	$679M
2	Los Angeles Dodgers	$549M
3	Chicago Cubs	$506M
4	Boston Red Sox	$500M
5	Atlanta Braves	$473M
Top 5 Total Revenue		$2.7B

Unlike other major leagues, the MLB does not have a salary cap and there is less revenue sharing across teams. These factors significantly influence the gap between the most and least valuable teams in the league. For instance, this gap is 7.6 times in the MLB compared to roughly 2.5 times in the NFL and NHL and 3.2 times in the NBA.

The Highest-Earning Teams in the NHL

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers each earned roughly $281 million over the 2022-2023 season, making them the richest teams in the NHL. However, they surpassed other leading teams by a narrow margin.

Rank	NHL Team	2022-2023 Revenue
1	Toronto Maple Leafs	$281
2	Edmonton Oilers	$281
3	Los Angeles Kings	$279
4	New York Rangers	$265
5	Montreal Canadiens	$265
Top 5 Total Revenue		$1.4B

With a $2.8 billion valuation, the Maple Leafs are the most valuable in the league, edging past the New York Rangers for the first time in eight years.

In November 2023, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System acquired a 5% stake in the Maple Leaf’s parent company. The pension fund is one of the largest in Canada, managing $36 billion in assets.