Forbes Ranks NFL Team Values; Miami Dolphins 14th

Forbes has released their annual list of the Most Valuable NFL Teams. The top of the list hasn't changed, as the Dallas Cowboys ($1.85 billion) repeat as the most vaulable team in the league, and the Miami Dolphins remain in the middle of the league, and right around the $1 billion mark ($1.01B to be exact, in 14th place).

That value also ranks the Dolphins as the 22nd most valuable franchise in the world. The Dolphins were worth just over $600 million in 2003, nearly doubling their value in a decade. However, they are holding right around the $1B mark, which is the price owner Stephen Ross paid for the team in 2009.

Forbes, in their writeup about the most valuable world-wide franchises, states:

The Dolphins brand has been damaged in recent years after three straight losing seasons and only one playoff appearance in the last decade. The team lost its first seven games of the 2011 season and struggled to sell tickets.The Dolphins, team sponsors and the local TV station often bought unsold tickets to prevent home games from being blacked out. The Dolphins roster of investors reads like a who's who of pop culture: Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Fergie, and Serena and Venus Williams.

While the top two positions on the overall franchises list went to soccer teams (Manchester United, $2.23B, and Real Madrid, $1.88B), the Cowboys take the third position (tied with the New York Yankees), and all 32 teams in the NFL made the top 50 franchises from around the world. Major League Baseball and the various soccer leagues each had seven francises on the list, while the NBA and Formula 1 each took two of the final four slots on the list.

The NFL's top five teams are the Cowboys, followed the Washington Redskins ($1.55B), New England Patriots ($1.4B), New York Giants ($1.3B), and the New York Jets ($1.22B). The bottom of the league finds the Minnesota Vikings ($796 million), Buffalo Bills ($792M), St. Louis Rams ($775M), Oakland Raiders ($761M), and, finally, the Jacksonville Jaguars ($725M).