The Minnesota Vikings Are Now Worth. . .

With a brand new stadium set to open in time for the 2016 NFL season, we were expecting the value of the Minnesota Vikings to increase quite a bit now. With the team being away from their lease with the Metrodome. . .which was one of the worst in the NFL, if not in all of sports, they are certainly going to be on the upward swing.

Now, Forbes has released its list of the 50 most valuable franchises in sports, and according to them, the Minnesota Vikings are now worth. . .

ONE BILLION DOLLARS!

Or, to be more precise, $1.007 billion. . .but, hey, what's seven million between friends, am I right?

That makes the Minnesota Vikings the 34th-most valuable sports franchise in the world. . .and the 21st-most valuable in the National Football League. (Last year, they were 35th overall with a value of $975 million). As far as the NFL goes, the Dallas Cowboys top the list at #5 with a value of $2.5 billion. The top three teams are European Soccer clubs. . .Real Madrid ($3.44 billion), FC Barcelona ($3.2 billion), and Manchester United ($2.81 billion).

I'm no business expert or anything, but I have to wonder if the value of the Vikings will increase even more after they actually move into the new stadium and they start making significantly more money than they have in past years. For a long time, the team was in the bottom two or three in the NFL in terms of value, so they really had nowhere to go but up.