The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams

#1 Manchester United
Value: $2.23 billion
Owner: Glazer family

The Red Devils are the world's most valuable sports team and have a long tradition of great play on the pitch. Manchester United has captured a record 19 English Premiership titles and claims to have 659 million fans worldwide. Next up for the Red Devils: an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange to reduce debt from Malcolm Glazer's purchase of the club in 2005.

#2 Real Madrid
Value: $1.88 billion
Owner: Club members

Real Madrid had the highest revenues of any soccer team during the 2010-11 season and was the most profitable team in all of sports during 2011, with operating income of $214 million. Club members have owned and operated the team since it was founded in 1902. Real won its record 32nd La Liga title in 2012, led by its star winger Cristiano Ronaldo (above, center).

#3 New York Yankees
Value: $1.85 billion
Owner: Steinbrenner family

The Yankees are just part of a money making machine that also includes the YES Network and Legends Hospitality. YES, the team's 34%-owned regional sports channel, is the most profitable RSN in the country with operating income of more than $200 million. Legends, the stadium management and concessions company owned by the Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs, signed a deal last year to sell season tickets at the San Francisco's 49ers new stadium. The enterprise value for the Yankees, YES and Legends is estimated to be $5.5 billion.

#4 Dallas Cowboys
Value: $1.85 billion
Owner: Jerry Jones

Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones is a master salesman and has attracted the NBA All-Star game, the Super Bowl, a Manny Pacquiao fight, soccer matches, concerts and more to Cowboys Stadium since the $1.2 billion venue opened in 2009. It will host the 2014 NCAA Men's Final Four as well. The stadium can hold 110,000 people, including standing room. One thing Jones has not been able to sell is naming rights to the building, which could fetch $15 million annually.

#5 Washington Redskins
Value: $1.56 billion
Owner: Daniel Snyder

The Redskins have made the playoffs only three times since Dan Snyder bought the team in 1999. That hasn't stopped fans from flocking to FedEx Field and making the Redskins the NFL's most profitable team in recent years. The 'Skins paid a king's ransom in April of three first round draft picks and a second round choice in a trade with the St. Louis Rams for the right to select Robert Griffin III (#10 above) with the second overall pick. Griffin won the 2011 Heisman Trophy while at Baylor.

#6 Los Angeles Dodgers
Value: $1.4 billion
Owner: Guggenheim Baseball

Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers in April through a bankruptcy court-led auction to Guggenheim Baseball for $2 billion. The deal included an additional $150 million to create a joint venture with McCourt on the parking lots and land around Dodger Stadium. The new ownership group includes Los Angeles Lakers' great Magic Johnson, former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals Stan Kasten and film producer Peter Guber. Chicago financial services firm Guggenheim Partners financed most of the deal. The new group paid a record price for the franchise based on an impending new local TV deal that is expected to be worth more than $3.5 billion in cash and equity.

#6 New England Patriots
Value: $1.4 billion
Owner: Robert Kraft

The Patriots are one of the NFL's best-run teams on and off the field. The Patriots have sold out every game at Gillette Stadium since it opened in 2002 and made the playoffs eight of the past nine years. Quarterback Tom Brady (above) is just the second quarterback, after John Elway, to lead his team to the Super Bowl five times. Brady's last trip to the Super Bowl ended in disappointment when the Pats lost to the New York Giants for the second time in five seasons in the big game.

#8 Barcelona
Value: $1.31 billion
Owner: Club members

Barcelona has won two UEFA Champions League titles over the past four seasons, riding the golden feet of Lionel Messi (above). Barca's home stadium, Camp Nou, has the biggest seating capacity of top European teams at 99,400. The team's broadcasting revenue of $266 million was tops among all soccer teams in 2011.

#9 New York Giants
Value: $1.3 billion
Owners: John Mara, Steven Tisch

The Giants celebrated their second Super Bowl title in five seasons in February, led by MVP Eli Manning (above). MetLife acquired naming rights to the New Meadowlands Stadium last year, filling a glaring hole in the stadium's financial picture from when it opened in 2010. MetLife was paying $7 million annually as a cornerstone partner, but the naming-rights deal is expected to cost more than $400 million over 25 years. It would represent the biggest naming-rights deal for a current NFL stadium (Farmers Insurance has pledged $23 million per year if a new stadium is built in Los Angeles). The stadium, home to both the Giants and Jets, is scheduled to host the 2014 Super Bowl.

#10 Arsenal
Value: $1.29 billion
Owner: Stan Kroenke

Arsenal has won the second-most FA Cups (10), just one fewer than Manchester United. Match day revenue of $150 million in 2011 was fourth highest among soccer teams.The Gunners' commercial revenue was $74 million in 2011, but got a boost last season due to new sponsorship agreements with brewer Carlsberg and Betsson, the gaming company.

#11 Bayern Munich
Value: $1.23 billion
Owner: Club members

#12 New York Jets
Value: $1.23 billion
Owner: Robert Wood Johnson

#13 Houston Texans
Value: $1.2 billion
Owner: Robert McNair

#14 Philadelphia Eagles
Value: $1.16 billion
Owner: Jeffrey Lurie

#15 Ferrari
Value: $1.1 billion
Owner: Fiat Group

#16 Chicago Bears
Value: $1.09 billion
Owner: McCaskey family

#17 Green Bay Packers
Value: $1.09 billion
Owner: Shareholder-owned

#18 Baltimore Ravens
Value: $1.09 billion
Owner: Stephen Bisciotti

#19 Indianapolis Colts
Value: $1.06 billion
Owner: Jim Irsay

#20 Denver Broncos
Value: $1.05 billion
Owner: Patrick Bowlen

#21 Pittsburgh Steelers
Value: $1.02 billion
Owners: Daniel Rooney, Art Rooney II

#22 Miami Dolphins
Value: $1.01 billion
Owner: Stephen Ross

#23 Carolina Panthers
Value: $1.0 billion
Owner: Jerry Richardson

#24 Boston Red Sox
Value: $1.0 billion
Owners: John Henry, Thomas Werner

#25 Seattle Seahawks
Value: $997 million
Owner: Paul Allen

#26 San Francisco 49ers
Value: $990 million
Owners: Denise DeBartolo York, John York

#27 AC Milan
Value: $989 million
Owner: Silvio Berlusconi

#28 Kansas City Chiefs
Value: $986 million
Owner: Lamar Hunt family

#29 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Value: $981 million
Owner: Malcolm Glazer

#30 Cleveland Browns
Value: $977 million
Owner: Randolph Lerner

#31 New Orleans Saints
Value: $965 million
Owner: Thomas Benson

#32 Tennessee Titans
Value: $964 million
Owner: Kenneth Adams Jr

#33 San Diego Chargers
Value: $920 million
Owner: Spanos family

#34 Arizona Cardinals
Value: $901 million
Owner: William Bidwill

#35 Los Angeles Lakers
Value: $900 million
Owner: Jerry Buss, Philip Anschutz

#36 Chicago Cubs
Value: $879 million
Owner: Ricketts Family

#37 Cincinnati Bengals
Value: $875 million
Owner: Michael Brown

#38 Calvin Johnson
Value: $844 million
Owner: William Clay Ford

#39 Atlanta Falcons
Value: $814 million
Owner: Arthur Blank

#40 McLaren
Value: $800 million
Owner: McLaren Group

#41 Minnesota Vikings
Value: $796 million
Owner: Zygmunt Wilf

#42 Buffalo Bills
Value: $792 million
Owner: Ralph Wilson Jr

#43 New York Knicks
Value: $780 million
Owner: Madison Square Garden

#44 St. Louis Rams
Value: $775 million
Owner: Stan Kroenke

#45 Oakland Raiders
Value: $761 million
Owner: Davis family

#45 Chelsea
Value: $761 million
Owner: Roman Abramovich

#47 Jacksonville Jaguars
Value: $725 million
Owner: Shahid Khan

#48 Philadelphia Phillies
Value: $723 million
Owners: Partnership led by David Montgomery

#49 New York Mets
Value: $719 million
Owners: Fred and Jeff Wilpon, Saul Katz

#50 Texas Rangers
Value: $674 million
Owners: Ray Davis, Bob Simpson

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