Lions named 43rd most valuable sports team in world

Forbes' annual list of the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world has been released. The Detroit Lions came in at No. 43 this year, which is down from 38th a year ago. Even so, their overall value went up from $844 million to $855 million.

This is the second year in a row that the Lions' value went up. It dropped from $867 million to $817 million from 2010 to 2011, but it jumped up to $844 million last year. With the Lions' value going up to $855 million this year, they are almost back at 2010 levels.

As usual, the NFL accounts for a good portion of Forbes' top 50. This year, the Lions came in at No. 27 in the NFL in value, one spot behind the Cincinnati Bengals ($871 million) and one spot ahead of the Atlanta Falcons ($837 million). Interestingly, the St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars were the only two NFL teams not in the top 50.

The Dallas Cowboys are once again considered the most valuable team in the NFL at $2.1 billion. This was only good enough for fifth in the entire world, though, as the Cowboys were beat out in the rankings by Real Madrid (soccer), Manchester United (soccer), Barcelona (soccer) and the New York Yankees (baseball).