FMIA: Why The NFL’s First $10 Billion Franchise Isn’t Really That Far Away

Tom Brady coming out of retirement and the Russell Wilson trade and the explosion of wide receiver salaries and Kansas City trading Tyreek Hill and one quarterback picked in the top 70 draft picks and the insane coverage of the release of the schedule. And new Drew Brees drama, just in the past few hours. Some offseason.

We’re forgetting something, the thing that will make NFL historians look back in a decade or two and say, “HOW’D THAT HAPPEN?”

The value of an NFL franchise has doubled in five years. The Denver Broncos are about to be sold for an estimated $4.5 billion, twice the number David Tepper paid for the Carolina Panthers in 2018.

Think of it this way: Denver’s price will be about 30 times what Jerry Jones paid for the Dallas Cowboys 33 years ago. In 1989, Jones paid $150 million for the Cowboys and for Texas Stadium, the team was losing $1 million per month, and cornerstone owner Lamar Hunt of Kansas City called it “the greatest risk I’ve ever seen an owner take.”

What a difference a generation makes. So, I asked the 79-year-old Jones on Friday: How surprised are you that a team not in New York or LA or not the Dallas Cowboys will sell for 30 times what you risked everything to buy 33 years ago?

“Every day, every week, it never ceases to amaze me how the NFL continues to evolve and continues to grow and continues to dominate the [sports] landscape,” Jones said. “Every time I think I totally understand it, it still blows me away.”

Drew Brees, the Chargers’ anime, Josh Allen is very smart, Amazon Prime strikes gold, why the Black Friday game died, how Tennessee-Green Bay became a gigantic schedule puzzle piece, 9:30 a.m. NFL fever, the Vikings’ bold draft strategy, an owner buys a Volodymyr Zelenskyy autographed