Professional sports in Houston is big business. How big, exactly? Try $15.8 billion-worth, per the new collection of franchise valuations tabulated by Sportico this week. The valuation list-described by Sportico's Eben Novy-Williams as "a balance between the economics of the teams and reading what a sale [of said team] might fetch"-ranks the collection of 155 franchises across the NFL,

Those surges in NFL team values, fueled by media-rights deals worth north of $110 billion, mean some billionaires are being priced out of owning teams. For decades it was common for a sports team to have a single owner who controlled most of the equity in the team.