Real Madrid and Barcelona, two of the biggest rivals in La Liga, along with English Premier League giants Manchester United, are the top three football clubs in the Forbes list of 50 most valuable sports teams of 2016. However, this is for the first time that the Forbes list does not include a football club as the most valuable team, with American football franchise Dallas Cowboys pipping Real to the top spot.
Real Madrid, valued at $3.6 billion and Barcelona ($3.5 billion) have been consistently in the top of such lists. Zinedine Zidane's team, who recently lifted the Champions League title after defeating Atletico Madrid in the final, are set to earn big bucks with the Adidas kit deal that they signed in early 2016.
Likewise, Barcelona also signed a mammoth kit deal with Nike, reportedly for around as high as $175 million a year. Add to it the presence of players like Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona), these stars add extra value to their clubs.
With teams like Real and Barca signing lucrative kit deals, the Red Devils, valued at $3.31 billion, also fall in the same bracket. They signed a $1.1 billion kit deal with Adidas for a 10-year period.
However, there are no other football teams in the top ten.
Bayern Munich, placed in the 12th position, are the only German team in the Forbes list, and are worth $2.6 billion. They were 11th in the same list last year, but it is English club Arsenal, who have taken a giant leap in the list -- from 36 (2015) to 23. The Arsene Wenger-managed team are valued at $2.02 billion. The Gunners made some good money from the English Premier League TV right as well, which garnered them $148 million, reported forbes.com.
Manchester City ($1.9 billion), Chelsea ($1.6) and Liverpool ($1.5) are the other three Premier League football clubs in the top 50 list.
Top ten list
1. Dallas Cowboys -— $4 billion
2. Real Madrid — $3.64 billion
3. Barcelona — $3.54 billion
4. New York Yankees — $3.40billion
5. Manchester United — $3.31 billion
6. New England Patriots — $3.20 billion
7. New York Knicks — $3 billion
8. Washington Redskins — $2.85 billion
9. New York Giants — $2.80 billion
10. Los Angeles Lakers / San Francisco 49ers — $2.70 billion each
