John Matthews
WMAL.com
NEW YORK — (WMAL) Over the years, even as his team has been losing on the field, Dan Snyder’s Washington Redskins have been winners at the bank. But now, even that claim to fame has dropped off a bit.
The Redskins are now the fifth most valuable franchise in the National Football League, according to Forbes, with a value of $2.9 billion dollars.
On the one hand, that’s not a bad mark, considering the team’s losing overall record over the past 25 years, but it’s a considerable drop-off from the top spot, which Washington claimed early in the century.
“They haven’t declined in value. It’s really a function of the rest of the league catching up to the Redskins,” says Forbes Senior Editor Kurt Badenhausen. “In the past, the Redskins, along with the Cowboys, have really been the gold standard in the NFL in terms of the money they generate from their stadiums. But we’ve seen newer stadiums come on line in other big markets, and those teams have caught up,” he adds.
Its no wonder the Redskins are already looking for a new home, even though their lease at Fed Ex Field runs until 2027. The team is looking forward to the infusion of cash that a new stadium and likely additional commercial development will bring.
“If Dan Snyder is successful in getting a new stadium, I suspect we’ll see him leapfrog with the Redskins over some of these other teams at that time,” says Marc Ganis, President of SportsCorp in Chicago.
Jerry Jones has led the way in using marketing and development to extend the Dallas Cowboys brand and lead the team to the top of Forbes’ list of most valuable NFL franchises. At $4.2 billion, according to Forbes, the Cowboys’ value is $800 million ahead of the New England Patriots, at $3.4 billion. Both the New York Giants ($3.1 billion) and San Francisco 49ers (3 billion) have jumped ahead of the Redskins on the list – and both have newer stadiums than Washington.
To determine the value of an NFL franchise, Forbes considers each team’s stadium situation, transactions around the league and the amount of money each team generates.
No one is going broke in the league. Forbes estimates franchise values have risen by 19 percent, to an average of $2.34 billion. The Buffalo Bills, by the way, bring up the rear – at $1.5 billion, the least valuable team in the NFL.
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