Forbes: Dallas Cowboys 1st team worth $4B

NEW YORK - The Dallas Cowboys are the first sports franchise worth $4 billion, according to Forbes.

In its annual rankings, Forbes placed the Cowboys ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona after the NFL team had a 25 percent increase in value.

Champions League winner Real dropped to the second spot at $3.65 billion, followed by its archrival Barcelona at 3.55 billion.

The rest of the top 10 has the New York Yankees ($3.4 billion) in fourth place, followed by Manchester United ($3.32 billion), the New England Patriots ($3.2 billion), New York Knicks ($3.0 billion), Washington Redskins ($2.8 billion), New York Giants ($2.8 billion), and tied for 10th, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Francisco 49ers ($2.7 billion).

The average current value of the 50 most valuable teams is $2.2 billion, the highest to date, a 25 percent increase over last year.