#197 🚀 Dallas Cowboys Valued at Record-Breaking $17 Billion

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The Khosla family paid $9.6 billion for the Seattle Seahawks this year, a league record for a control stake. That franchise is now the NFL's 14th most valuable team. Let that sink in.

Forbes' latest ranking has the Dallas Cowboys top at $17 billion, up 31% year-on-year, with every single franchise clearing $8 billion. For context, Forbes had Real Madrid as the most valuable football club at $9.5 billion back in May. That would place them 15th on the NFL list.

Speaking of football, next week we're at World Football Summit in Madrid launching the third edition of our Football Tech & Business Report. $8.1 billion in global football tech dealflow since 2021, ten innovation trends, twenty league and federation initiatives, plus deep dives on the World Cup tech stack and women's football MCOs.

A first look in today’s edition, just for you ;)

Upcoming: Football Tech & Business Report 2026

For our latest report, we’re launching the third edition of our Football Tech & Business Report next week at World Football Summit in Madrid.

Taking a global view on the beautiful game after this year’s World Cup, here’s a first look at the investment data, innovation trends and people featured inside.

Five highlights

• $8.1B | Global football tech dealflow
  Since 2021, incl. $476M in H1 2026 alone

• 77% | Of funding to fans & content
  Up from 68% across the full period

• $5.4B | Raised in Europe
  North America next with $2.5B

• 10 | Trends in football innovation
  Plus Women's Football and World Cup 26

• 20 | Innovation initiatives
  By teams, leagues and federations

Insights: Top Trends

Tech: Technology’s impact on the game itself

• Officiating technology moves from innovation to infrastructure

• The stadium of the future

• Young players are becoming football’s most valuable investment asset

• Have players have lost control of their own likeness?

Media & Fans: Media, gaming, and the new fan ecosystem

• Rise of entertainment-driven football formats

• Creator-led distribution redefining sports media

• Growing convergence of football and gaming

Business & Data: Ownership, data, and the business of football

• Rise and strain of multi-club ownership

• Stablecoins arrive on the shirt

• Fan ownership: An ongoing experiment

Women’s Football MCOs

• MCO in women’s football: The new frontier for ownership and innovation

FIFA WC26 Recap: FIFA World Cup 2026

Technology takes centre stage, with Tech @ FIFA World Cup 26 covering:

• Officiating

• Broadcast & Production

• Fan Experience

• Venue Operations & Security

• Player Performance & Welfare

More in the Full Report

• Innovators: The People Defining Football Innovation

• Startups to Watch: Companies Worth Your Attention

• Ecosystem: The Football Innovation Ecosystem

• Data in Full: Football Tech Dealflow

Stay tuned for the 2026 update. Until then,…

Trajektory Wins at the WFS Awards

Congratulations to Trajektory, winner of this year’s Most Innovative Supplier Award, presented by SportsTechX, at the WFS Awards.

The awards ceremony will take place on 15 September, during WFS Madrid 2026.

Look out for the full report next week as we bring the findings to Madrid.

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

🏀 Genius Sports partnered with NBA All-Star Chris Paul, Ohh Dip!!! Entertainment and Words + Pictures to launch a sports media company producing athlete-led programming using sports data and technology.

🏎️ MotoGP Group selected Accenture to power a new direct-to-fan streaming platform for the 2027 season that was expected to bring MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and WorldSBK under one system and deliver richer, more personalized fan experiences.

⚙️ Apple announced new health and fitness features for Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and iPhone, including more accurate heart-rate sensing, a readiness score and a redesigned Health app with Apple Intelligence-powered health and longevity insights.

🏀 LeBron James partnered with Polymarket as the latest major athlete to enter the prediction market sector, following similar deals involving Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bryson DeChambeau and Lionel Messi.

⚽ UEFA and workwear brand STRAUSS announced a three-year partnership to support referee development across European football, which made STRAUSS UEFA’s first official refereeing partner and placed its branding on referee kits, VAR monitors and UEFA’s Video Operations Room.

🎾 Wimbledon ruled out dedicated influencer accreditation for 2027 after the US Open doubled creator credentials to around 100 and faced match disruptions involving filming, noise and ring lights.

🏈 Forbes valued the Dallas Cowboys at an NFL-record $17 billion, up 31% from last year, while all 32 teams reached at least $8 billion, the league’s combined value passed $300 billion and the average franchise value rose 34% to $9.5 billion.

🏏 Cricket Australia approved private investment in the Big Bash League and launched the sale of the Melbourne Renegades for new ownership from the 2027-28 season, saying the move would strengthen Australian cricket’s long-term future.

⚽ European Leagues expanded its European Commission complaint against FIFA to include the women’s international match calendar, alleging FIFA’s dual role as governing body and competition organiser created a conflict of interest that harmed domestic leagues.

⚽ Fossil Free Football called on UEFA to ban advertising by polluting companies from its competitions, arguing that fossil fuel sponsorships conflicted with the governing body’s climate commitments.

⛳ LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey, sought to cancel existing player contracts, disclosed a $495 million secured loan from Saudi Arabia’s PIF and targeted a January 2027 return under a new LIV 2.0 structure.

💰 Playfly Sports, a sports revenue maximization company, secured a $250 million senior credit facility from Bain Capital’s Private Credit Group to support its continued growth.

💰 Shoot 360, a technology-powered basketball training platform, raised $7 million in growth funding led by COPA Innovation Laboratories and its investment subsidiary COPA Venture Capital to advance athlete development and support its expansion.

💰 Agassi Sports Entertainment raised $1.245 million through a private equity offering.

💰 PUNTR, a sports technology platform, secured $500,000 from Accretion Capital to build software that remembered each fan across every match, product, season and sport.

💰 ShowNxt received its third $10,000 grant from IDEA: Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator, which brought its total funding from Northeastern University to $50,000.

💰 kicker ventures became a strategic investor in kitts for an undisclosed amount to support the expansion of its re-commerce marketplace for buying, selling and sharing football jerseys across Germany.

🤝 GameSquare agreed to acquire FanEngine’s sports, music and entertainment IP assets in a deal initially valued at around $15.9 million in stock, plus potential earnouts, to expand direct fan monetization across content, commerce, events and experiences.

🤝 A consortium led by L Catterton, HYROX founders Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste, and WndrCo acquired Infront Sports & Media’s majority stake in HYROX for an undisclosed amount, in a deal that reportedly valued the fitness racing company at around $700 million (€600 million), to support its global growth.

🤝 Lionel Messi reached a preliminary agreement to acquire a majority stake in Spanish second-division club CD Eldense for an undisclosed amount, subject to final legal and regulatory approvals.

💸 AIG agreed to acquire a stake in Salford City Lionesses for an undisclosed amount as part of its expanded Salford City partnership and was set to become the first Fortune 500 company to invest in an English women’s football team.

💸 Daniel Kretinsky increased his stake in West Ham United to 46% for an undisclosed amount, which made him the club’s largest shareholder and ended Amanda Staveley’s bid to invest.

⚽ Everton owner The Friedkin Group began seeking new investors less than two years after buying the club for around £331 million, as Premier League teams spent a record €4.1 billion during the summer transfer window.

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