Patriots Are Third on Forbes’ List of Most Valuable NFL Franchises

The New England Patriots enjoyed unparalleled success on the football field for nearly the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Things haven’t gone quite as smoothly of late. They haven’t won a postseason game since Super Bowl 53 following the 2018 season. The Patriots are coming off a 4-13 campaign, their least successful season in the 30 years of Robert Kraft’s ownership.

But despite a relative lack of winning of late, the Patriots’ valuation remains quite healthy. Forbes came out with the annual valuation of the 32 NFL franchises this past week. The New England Patriots had the third valuation in the NFL at $7.4 billion. They are the most valuable franchise in the AFC. New England dropped one spot from Forbes’ 2023 NFL franchise valuations, but they still enjoyed a 6% increase in value.

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Robert Kraft purchased the Patriots franchise from James Orthwein in 1994 for $172 million. According to Forbes, the current operating income for the franchise is $261 million. In the 30 years under Kraft’s ownership, New England has won ten AFC Championships and six Super Bowls. In the 34 years before Kraft bought the team, they won the AFC once and had no Super Bowl titles. Things changed dramatically under the new ownership, led by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.

Tom Brady holds up New England Patriots Super Bowl trophies alongside Bill Belichick, right, and Robert Kraft, left, during a rally in Boston on Feb. 7, 2017, to celebrate their win over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

The Dallas Cowboys ($10.2 billion) remained atop the list. Proof that winning isn’t everything: the Cowboys’ Super Bowl drought is 23 years longer than New England’s. The Los Angeles Rams ($7.6 billion) leapfrogged the Patriots from 2023’s rankings to come in at number two. Dallas’ valuation is at least double that of 12 of the other 31 NFL franchises. The Cowboys operating income of $564 million dwarfs their competitors. It more than doubles every franchise aside from the Rams.

So, while Robert Kraft’s New England Patriots might not have as Jerry Jones‘ Dallas Cowboys or Stan Kroenke‘s Los Angeles Rams, he can rest easy knowing he has won more Lombardi Trophies than those two combined.  The fact that his franchise is worth $7.4 billion probably doesn’t hurt him sleeping well either.