Those list-loving financial whizzes at Forbes magazine have released another sports-related top 50 this week: the most valuable franchises in the world.

In a statistic that won’t bring NFL owners any sympathy from lockout-frustrated fans, all 32 of the league’s franchises made the ranking.

The Patriots came in sixth, with Forbes valuing the club at $1.37 billion. (Not a bad return considering Robert Kraft paid $175 million for the team in 1994.)

New England comes in as the third-most valuable NFL franchise, behind the Cowboys and Redskins. The top-ranked team on the list plays football as well – but here we call it soccer: English superclub Manchester United is valued at $1.86 billion.


The list also shows that when it comes to the NFL, winning doesn’t matter: The Redskins have won just 10 games over the last two seasons and Houston has yet to make the playoffs in nine seasons but both are ranked in the top 10.

The Red Sox make the list as well, coming in 31st with a value of $912 million.

Here’s the top 20 teams on Forbes’ list:

1. Manchester United (soccer) – $1.86 billion

2. Dallas Cowboys (NFL) – $1.81 billion

3. New York Yankees (MLB) – $1.7 billion

4. Washington Redskins (NFL) – $1.55 billion

5. Real Madrid (soccer) – $1.45 billion

6. New England Patriots (NFL) – $1.37 billion

7. Arsenal (soccer) – $1.19 billion

8. New York Giants (NFL) – $1.18 billion

9. Houston Texans (NFL) – $1.17 billion

10. New York Jets (NFL) – $1.17 billion

11. Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) – $1.12 billion

12. Baltimore Ravens (NFL) – $1.07 billion

13. Ferrari (F1 racing) – $1.07 billion

14. Chicago Bears (NFL) – $1.07 billion

15. Denver Broncos (NFL) – $1.05 billion

16. Indianapolis Colts (NFL) – $1.04 billion

17. Carolina Panthers (NFL) – $1.04 billion

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL) – $1.03 billion

19. Bayern Munich (soccer) – $1.03 billion

20. Green Bay Packers (NFL) – $1.02 billion