ABSTRACT
Introduction The persistent growth in the value of sports franchises since 1945 is indicative of the growth in popularity of professional sports. In 1989, Jerry Jones, the president of a small oil and gas exploration firm in Arkansas, purchased the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for $140 million. A quarter century later, according to Forbes Magazine, the franchise was worth an estimated $3.2 billion. The other 31 teams in the NFL had also enjoyed substantial increases in value, the average pegged at $1.5 billion.1
