The Pittsburgh Steelers are the 28th most valuable sports franchise in the world for 2024 with a valuation of $5.3 billion, according to a list compiled by Forbes.
Last year, the Steelers were No. 29 on the list, and they had a very healthy 15-percent increase in value. They are still growing at a healthy pace. The Atlanta Falcons, who have one of the NFL’s newer stadiums, was the team that fell to push the Steelers up a spot. The Falcons were 26th last year, but they only grew by 11 percent year over year and tumbled to 29th.
The overall list is dominated by NFL teams, with the Steelers being just the 17th most valuable NFL franchise. Unsurprisingly, the Dallas Cowboys are atop the list with a staggering valuation of $10.1 billion, including a 12-percent change year over year. That should make them the first sports team in the world to crack the 11-figure mark.
Of the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world, there were 29 NFL franchises on the list. Those that didn’t make it? The Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and Detroit Lions. I would imagine all three of those are probably among the fastest growing given their recent success and top-tier quarterback play, but for now they are not on the list.
Here is a breakdown of just the NFL teams on this top-50 list in order of overall rank worldwide. All data comes from Forbes.
| NFL Team | Valuation (Billions) | 1-Year Change (%) | Overall Rank |
| Cowboys | 10.1 | 12 | 1 |
| Rams | 7.6 | 10 | 3 |
| Patriots | 7.4 | 6 | 6 |
| Giants | 7.3 | 7 | 7 |
| Jets | 6.9 | 13 | 9 |
| 49ers | 6.8 | 13 | 10 |
| Raiders | 6.7 | 8 | 11 |
| Eagles | 6.6 | 14 | 12 |
| Bears | 6.4 | 2 | 15 |
| Commanders | 6.3 | 4 | 16 |
| Dolphins | 6.2 | 9 | 17 |
| Texans | 6.1 | 11 | 18 |
| Packers | 5.6 | 22 | 20 |
| Broncos | 5.5 | 8 | 22 |
| Seahawks | 5.45 | 9 | 24 |
| Buccaneers | 5.4 | 29 | 26 |
| Steelers | 5.3 | 15 | 28 |
| Falcons | 5.2 | 11 | 29 |
| Browns | 5.15 | 11 | 30 |
| Chargers | 5.1 | 23 | 31 |
| Vikings | 5.05 | 9 | 33 |
| Ravens | 5 | 8 | 34 |
| Titans | 4.9 | 11 | 37 |
| Chiefs | 4.85 | 13 | 39 |
| Colts | 4.8 | 10 | 40 |
| Jaguars | 4.6 | 15 | 43 |
| Panthers | 4.5 | 10 | 45 |
| Saints | 4.4 | 8 | 47 |
| Cardinals | 4.3 | 13 | 50 |
The Steelers are actually tied for the fourth-fastest growing franchise in the NFL in terms of year-over-year valuation. Their 15 percent is tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars and behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (29 percent), Los Angeles Chargers (23 percent) and Green Bay Packers (22 percent).
There isn’t a direct correlation, but most of the franchises near the top of the list are cities with higher populations and/or franchises that have been around for a longer period of time. The Steelers being one of the fastest growing in a smaller city and still ranking 17th in the NFL and 28th in the world is pretty impressive given the 2.46 million estimated population in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area as of 2023.
As we all know, the Steelers travel better than basically any other team. Their fan base goes way beyond just Western Pennsylvania. Whether there are family ties back to the region, or people just liked the 1970s Steelers growing up and adopted them as their favorite team, the fan base is vast.
Forbes’ methodology for this list is described as follows from Brett Knight, Justin Teitelbaum, and Forbes’ staff:
“The team values are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) and include the economics of each team’s stadium but not the value of the stadium real estate itself. Similarly, the values include rights fees from regional sports networks owned by the team but not the value of the RSNs themselves; equity stakes in other sports-related assets and mixed-use real estate projects are also excluded.”
So newer stadiums and the real estate value of that land doesn’t directly factor into the figures above, though it’s unclear exactly what they mean by “the economics of each team’s stadium” being included.
Maybe things like hosting the 2026 NFL Draft will help the Steelers’ valuation in a few years from now.
An interesting fact from Forbes’ writeup is that this year’s last-place team would have been No. 1 just seven years ago. The category of sports overall has grown tremendously.
