Forbes: Jaguars worth $4 billion, up 15 percent; Cowboys still atop the NFL money tree
The Jacksonville Jaguars have already posted an improvement over last season before Sunday’s opening game at Indianapolis.
Forbes magazine released its valuations of NFL teams this week and the Jaguars showed a 15 percent increase over last year for a total valuation of $4 billion. Jaguars owner Shad Khan purchased the team for $770 million in 2012, which means the value of the team has increased by more than $3.2 billion under his ownership.
The Jags still lag near the bottom of the NFL in team value at 28th. The only teams below them are Arizona ($3.8 billion), Buffalo ($3.7 billion), Detroit ($3.6 billion) and Cincinnati ($3.5 billion).
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The Jaguars are also 28th in the NFL with revenue of $517 million. They're 14th in the NFL in operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) at $110 million.
Khan's net worth up 50 percent
Earlier this year, Forbes estimated Khan’s net worth at $12.1 billion, an increase of $4.5 billion from the previous year. Khan is the fifth-wealthiest owner in the NFL and second in the AFC.
While the Jags’ revenue has increased five-fold under Khan, the story has been the same for every NFL owner. Indeed, the numbers Forbes compiled show it’s almost impossible for NFL teams to lose money given the shared TV contracts and the owners voting to increase each team’s debt limit from $500 million to $600 million last year.
The average NFL team is now worth a record $5.1 billion, 14 percent more than last year. The average revenue increased 8 percent to $581 million.
Every NFL team saw its value increase over last year, 26 by double-digits. The team that had the smallest increase was the Los Angeles Chargers at 7 percent. Green Bay and Washington increased 8 percent and New England, Chicago and Buffalo increased 9 percent.
Dallas is the richest team
Dallas remains the most valued team in the league at $9 billion, an increase of 13 percent over last year. The Cowboys also generate the most revenue at $1.1 billion and operating income at $500 million.
New England is the second most-value NFL team by Forbes, at $7 billion, followed by the Los Angeles Rams at $6.9 billion, the New York Giants at $6.8 billion and Chicago at $6.3 billion.
Four NFL teams had increases of more than 20 percent in value over last year, Tennessee ($4.4 million, up 26 percent), Las Vegas ($6.2 billion up 22 percent), Miami ($5.7 billion, up 24 percent) and Cleveland ($4.62 billion, up 20 percent).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Forbes estimates Jaguars value at $4 billion, ranking 28th in NFL
