The Cincinnati Bengals are a pretty good representation of just how dominant the NFL is around the globe.
NFL team valuations just went out this week and the Bengals sit dead last in the NFL at a paltry $7.4 billion.
Paltry by NFL standards, anyway.
As Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen pointed out in the writeup, the Bengals are last in the NFL, sure, but hardly close to last in the greater sporting world.
“Yet there are only six sports franchises on the planet outside the NFL that are worth more than the Bengals,” Badenhausen wrote. “The list includes three from the NBA, two in MLB and LaLiga’s Real Madrid. The NFL’s least valuable team is worth $7.4 billion, by Sportico’s count, and all 32 teams land among the world’s 40 most valuable sports franchises.”
The usual suspects apply when it comes to the Bengals, though. They’re a small-market team in an older (yet renovating) stadium. They have smaller local revenue and the national brand isn’t very good.
Granted, things are still trending massively up for the Bengals. The brand is improving thanks to Joe Burrow. It’s going international, too. The club has done more in the Burrow era than ever in terms of local outreach and creating new revenue streams as it modernizes.
Maybe the Bengals don’t climb out of 32nd place for the seventh year running, but getting a $453ish million check for television revenue and otherwise in a league whose teams total nearly $300 billion won’t cause the Bengals any concerns.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals' estimated NFL franchise value rank doesn't tell whole story
