Some sports franchises have transcended sports, they are globally famous around the world and even people without any interest in sports can recognise their players. Such is the massive influence that these teams have, or had, in their respective leagues and tournaments, that they have broken down barriers and have become iconic bastions for their respective sport. That, in our belief, is arguably more important than value, the number of Insta followers and other criteria that can be used to determine “the most popular sports franchises in the world”.
It is a highly contentious topic, and every sports fan will have biases toward their preferred team. We could make lists of the most popular or successful franchises right now, but that doesn’t really do justice to the clubs and teams that have inspired generations of fans with decades’ worth of history. We will go through some of the biggest franchises in the history of sports, and then analyse some key data and analytics to pinpoint why they are among the best of the best.
Iconic Sports Teams and Players That Everyone Knows
Even people with no interest in popular sports such as football, soccer, and basketball will know the most celebrated players from each of those sports. Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan are just a few of the legendary athletes who have gone on to become globally renowned celebrities. Many still regard them as the GOATs in their fields. Such superstars have expanded the fanbase of their teams to all corners of the globe.
We have collected a few contenders for the top sports franchises in each of these popular sports: football, soccer, basketball and baseball. The franchises are not listed in any specific order.
| Top Sports Franchises by Sport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | Soccer | MLB | NBA |
| Dallas Cowboys San Francisco 49ers New York Giants Kansas City Chiefs Philadelphia Eagles Green Bay Packers | Real Madrid Barcelona Manchester United Paris Saint-Germain Juventus | New York Yankees Los Angeles Dodgers Chicago Cubs Boston Red Sox St. Louis Cardinals Atlanta Braves | Boston Celtics Los Angeles Lakers Chicago Bulls Golden State Warriors New York Knicks Miami Heat |
These are some of the most popular sports franchises in the world, though the list is far from complete. We could easily imagine football fans pointing out where are the Detroit Lions? or soccer fans arguing Liverpool should be on the list. Baseball and baseball fans could easily say the list is lacking the likes of the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Astros. The chosen teams have stood out for their storied golden eras, tremendous media following, the market value of the franchise, and their global recognition.
Real Madrid (Soccer)
The most followed sports team of any sport on social media is a soccer team, in fact, so are each of the top 11 which just shows how big the sport is across the globe. Real Madrid takes the crown as the most followed team overall, with over 278 million followers across the major platforms such as X and the Meta sites Facebook and Instagram. Los Blancos are the biggest soccer club in the world, have won the Champions League 15 times and some of the most famous players ever have donned the white shirt, most recently Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dallas Cowboys (Football)
While soccer teams might be the most followed and loved across the world where the sport is massive in Europe and South America, when dealing in pure finances, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable team in the world. Last year the Cowboys were valued at a massive $10.1bn, generating revenue from ticket sales, their state of the art stadium, e-sports investments, merchandise sales and more.
New York Yankees (Baseball)
You might not know anything about baseball but I bet you know who the New York Yankees are. Just take a stroll down the street and I would bet you might see a Yankees baseball cap at some point. Their branding alone makes this franchise a ton of money. It helps that the team has achieved lots of success going as far back as the 1920s.
Rating the World’s Most Popular Sports Franchises
How popular the sports are also plays a massive role in determining the most popular sports teams in the world. Soccer, for instance, has a global following and there are professional leagues and league systems in the majority of countries in the world. Most soccer fans don’t only follow their domestic leagues but also have a Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga favorite team as well.
NFL is becoming more widespread, but the majority of the following is based in the US. There are a few other countries with football leagues, and the next best league to watch after the NFL is the NCAAF. College football is huge in the US, and has some of the fiercest fans. But it does not extend much beyond the US. Basketball, on the other hand, is far more widespread than football in the world. There are competitive leagues in Europe and Asia, and youngsters from all over the world pray to get the call up to the NBA draft, to compete in the most storied franchises in the sport’s history.
Then, some sports are not as mainstream now as they used to be. The US gradually shifted its attention from baseball to football in the last century. In the early 20th century, baseball was the sport to follow, with the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio giving birth to two golden eras for the NY Yankees.
So let’s go into our criterion for rating the most popular sports franchises, and then look at some cold hard figures.
Fan Size, Viewership and Attendance Figures
It is impossible to realistically count how many fans a sports franchise has. We can count figures such as viewership, ticket sales, social media followers and merchandise sales, but it is difficult to pinpoint even a rough number for the number of fans a team has. Then, there are discrepancies in the other figures, in that not all fans may have access to watch games, live or otherwise. Or they don’t use social media and don’t buy the merch. So we approach these figures in the knowledge they do not paint the full picture.
Going purely on a “tickets sold per game” basis, here are the teams with the highest yearly average attendance figures. These figures are the average taken over a single year, which is more fair than taking the total. That is, because the 8 or 9 NFL regular season home games would be nothing compared to the 81 home games an MLB team plays.
| NFL | Soccer | MLB | NBA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys - 93,000+ | Borussia Dortmund - 80,000+ | LA Dodgers - 47,000+ | Chicago Bulls - 20,000+ |
| Green Bay Packers - 77,000+ | Bayern Munich - 75,000+ | St. Louis Cardinals - 40,000+ | Dallas Mavericks - 20,000+ |
| New York Giants - 76,000+ | Manchester United - 73,000+ | New York Yankees - 39,000+ | Toronto Raptors - 19,800+ |
| Washington Commanders - 65,000+ | Barcelona - 71,000+ | Chicago Cubs - 38,000+ | Golden State Warriors - 19,500+ |
| San Francisco 49ers - 70,000+ | Real Madrid - 69,000+ | San Francisco Giants - 37,000+ | Cleveland Cavaliers - 19,400+ |
Why Attendance Figures Vary by Sport
NBA naturally has the lowest as the courts are much smaller than the massive football, soccer and baseball stadiums. Stadium or arena size plays a massive role in the attendance figures, but there are external factors we haven’t considered. For instance, how easy it is to acquire tickets, the price of the tickets, and the stadium atmosphere. If you haven’t bought a ticket to a game, you may be surprised at the big difference in average ticket prices.
- Average NFL Ticket Price- $150
- Average NBA Ticket Price – 95
- Average MLB Ticket Price – 40
- Average Premier League Ticket Price – $155
Social Media Following
Facebook and Instagram are the two major platforms where fans follow their favorite teams, but they are not the only major platforms where sportsbooks can have big followings. We also have to factor in the likes of YouTube, TikTok, X (Twitter), and Sina Weibo, among loads of other platforms around the world.
- Real Madrid – 600+ Million Followers
- Barcelona – 337+ Million Followers
- Manchester United – 216+ Million Followers
- Paris Saint-Germain – 184+ Million Followers
- Juventus – 147+ Million Followers
Real Madrid is the most followed sports franchise in the world, with its following reaching a record 600+ million supporters. It also has the most visited club website, with nearly 9 million people visiting per month. Barcelona has also accrued a tremendous worldwide following, with Manchester United third with over 200 million followers. Soccer has the greatest reach and therefore the biggest following on social media. Basketball is America’s greatest sport export, with fans from all over the world tuning in to watch iconic franchises.
- LA Lakers – 62+ Million Followers
- Golden State Warriors – 59+ Million Followers
- Chicago Bulls – 34+ Million Followers
- Miami Heat – 24+ Million Followers
- Boston Celtics – 22+ Million Followers
And just for comparison, the top followed teams in the NFL and MLB are:
- Dallas Cowboys (NFL) – 20+ Million Followers
- New England Patriots (NFL) – 16+ Million Followers
- New York Yankees (MLB) – 12+ Million Followers
- Boston Red Sox (MLB) – 9+ Million Followers
- LA Dodgers (MLB) – 9+ Million Followers
Market Value of the Franchise
How much a sports franchise is worth gives us an insight into how big the club is money-wise. This gives us a good estimation of the marketing power and commercial influence the franchise has as a brand. It is not the perfect way to gauge the popularity of a team, as some have received tremendous injections of money in recent years, and rank high up the list without having the history to back up their claim to being the most popular franchise. Here are the most valuable sports franchises:
- Dallas Cowboys (NFL) – $10.1+ Billion
- Golden State Warriors (NBA) $8.8+ Billion
- Los Angeles Rams (NFL) – $7.6+ Billion
- New York Yankees (MLB) – $7.5+ Billion
- New York Knicks (NBA) – $7.5+ Billion
According to the Forbes Most Valuable Sports Teams, the top 10 are all US sports franchises. Specifically, from the NFL, NBA and MLB. For the highest-valued soccer franchises, we have to look beyond the top 10 and get the following:
- Real Madrid – $6.6 Billion
- Manchester United – $6.5 Billion
- Barcelona – $5.6 Billion
- Liverpool – $5.3 Billion
- Manchester City – $5 Billion
Naturally, franchises that have been around for longer and have bigger communities will have a higher valuation.
Rounding Up the Most Popular Sports Franchises in the World
We have gone through lots of different angles to find the most iconic and beloved sports franchises in the world, and now it’s time to compile a list. If for nothing else, to open the discussion and get you, the fans, talking. Here are the top 3 franchises of each of the most popular sports we have listed.
| Top Sports Franchise By Sport and Reasoning | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | Soccer | ||
| #1. Dallas Cowboys | Highest attendance figures, market value, social media following and historical success | #1. Real Madrid | Best club following, highest market value, big history and still going strong |
| #2. New England Patriots | High market value, social media following, great history | #2. Barcelona | Second best club following, high market value, big history and still going strong |
| #3. Green Bay Packers | Huge attendance figures, historical success | #3. Manchester United | Third biggest following, large stadium attendance, big history |
| MLB | NBA | ||
| #1. New York Yankees | Most decorated MLB team, highest market value and social media following | #1. Los Angeles Lakers | Iconic players, rivalry with Celtics, huge historical success, tremendous social media following and market value |
| #2. Los Angeles Dodgers | Highest attendance figures, huge market value and social media following | #2. Boston Celtics | Iconic players, great rivalry with Lakers, big social media following |
| #3. Boston Red Sox | High market value, social media following and historical success | #3. Chicago Bulls | Historical success, high attendance figures, big social media presence |
The list is highly contentious, but so is the topic. If you have any suggestions or amendments that you would make to our list, then feel free to hit us up on X (Twitter) @BettingToolsus.
Betting on the Top Sports Franchises
There are loads of ways to go about betting on your favorite team. Some bettors go all out and place futures on their team to win the championships and bet on them to win in all of their games. We have also heard stories of some fans betting against their teams to win – so that they are happy either way the game goes and won’t get too distraught if the team they support loses.
One thing is definite, if you support a top franchise in a popular league, you will have no shortage of betting options to back your team. We aren’t just talking about standard betting markets such as moneylines, betting against the spread, or totals, but all sorts of player bets and props to put your knowledge to the test. You can even download a betting app and make use of the live betting markets to place in-game bets and capitalize on the action as it unfolds.
All you need to get started is create an account at a reliable US sportsbook, and then top up your gaming account with betting funds. Everyone from the betting beginners to the seasoned experts can make bank on their sports predictions. And if you ever need a little inspiration, you can always check out tips from top betting handicappers, head to our sports guides, or learn how to use a professional betting strategy to get the most out of your wagered dollar.
Before you know it, you will be placing complex parlays and SGP bets on your favorite teams, earning valuable bonus bets and other rewards to extend your bankroll.
