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In 1989, Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million.
The sale marked the first time anybody had ever paid more than $100 million for a sports team and it came just five years after the previous owner, H. R. (Bum) Bright, had purchased the Cowboys for $60 million. But if there was any thought at the time that Jones overpaid for a team that went 3-13 the year before, that has since been erased, several-fold.
In the 2000s, the value of the Cowboys franchise hovered around 30-60% more than that of the average NFL franchise. However, over the last seven years, the Cowboys valuation has grown 148% from $1.61 billion to $4.00 billion, according to the latest valuations by Forbes, while the average franchise has increased just 89% from $1.04 billion to $1.97 billion.
Cork Gaines/Business Insider