Real Madrid, Barcelona 2nd and 3rd most expensive sports teams globally

PanARMENIAN.Net - Spanish football giants Barcelona and Real Madrid ranked the 2nd and 3rd in the Forbes’ list of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams of 2016.

NFL's Dallas Cowboys is the world's most valuable sports team, as NFL franchises make up 27 of the 50 such teams in the world, including the Dallas Cowboys, who rank first with a value of $4 billion, up 25%, according to Forbes.

It is the first time a non-football club has reigned as the most valuable team since 2011 (the first year Forbes compiled a top 50 list). Manchester United held the crown in 2011 and 2012 and Real Madrid the last three years.

This year, Real Madrid falls one spot to No. 2 overall at a value of $3.65 billion, up 12%. The Spanish powerhouse, stocked with a pantheon of stars led by the world’s highest-paid athlete Cristiano Ronaldo, tops a group of eight soccer clubs on the list. Real had the highest revenue of any sports team in the world at $694 million during the 2014-15 season. The club will get a boost from an extension to its Adidas kit deal signed earlier in the year. The pact is worth $1.6 billion over 10 years, or four times more than their previous agreement.

Nipping at Real’s heels is its La Liga rival, Barcelona, which ranks third at $3.55 billion. Barcelona, home to five-time FIFA Player of the Year Lionel Messi, signed its own monster kit deal in 2016. The agreement with Nike NKE -0.12% is expected to set a record and be worth as much as $175 million a year, according to reports. Barcelona will kick off a $650 million renovation of its Camp Nou stadium next year. The project will modernize the stadium, expand capacity to 105,000 and help Barca challenge Real for the highest revenues in sports.

Manchester United were the next football club ranked -- fifth overall -- with a value of 3.32 billion (€2.99 billion), Forbes says.

Rounding out the other football clubs were Bayern Munich at No. 12 ($2.68bn, €2.41bn), Arsenal at No. 23 ($2.02bn, €1.82bn), Manchester City at No. 28 ($1.92bn, €1.73bn), Chelsea at No. 36 ($1.67bn, €1.50bn), and Liverpool at No. 41 ($1.55bn, €1.40bn).