Manchester United fans aren’t really all that keen on chief executive Ed Woodward, but he does have some pretty decent business acumen.

Still, when you have Alexis Sanchez stealing around £500 000 a week to warm the bench, questions around his handling of the club will always be raised.

When Forbes released their latest ‘The World’s 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams 2019’ list, there was good and bad news for Manchester United.

The good news is that they cracked the top 10 again, but the bad news is that they’re down to sixth spot, with the $3,81 billion valuation down 8% from last year.

Let’s start with the football (soccer) teams that cracked the list, via Goal:

Manchester United have fallen behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in the list of Forbes’ 50 most valuable teams – with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys once again coming in at the top spot.

The Red Devils dropped from second in the 2018 list to sixth as Real (third) and Barca (fourth) both retained their positions achieved last year.

Bayern Munich checks in at the 17th position while  Manchester City and Chelsea were named at spots 25 and 32, respectively.

Arsenal and Liverpool are the final two football sides included among the top 50 with the Gunners checking in at No. 42 while the Champions League winners come in at 45.

Some consolation there for Arsenal fans, who look set for another season of underperforming and lowballing everyone with regards their transfer offers.

OK, what about those who came out tops? First up, ruling the roost, is the Dallas Cowboys:

But America’s Team remains the biggest must-see show in sports. Nine of the 50 highest-rated sports TV broadcasts in 2018 were regular season Cowboys games, helping goose ratings for CBS, NBC and Fox (the Patriots were the only other team with more than four games among the top 50). Cowboys fever helps owner Jerry Jones generate an estimated $340 million in sponsorship and premium seating revenue at AT&T Stadium, twice as much as any other team.

While Jones’ team has come up short on the field the past 20-plus years, the Cowboys are the world’s most valuable sports franchise for the fourth-straight year at $5 billion. Jones has capitalized on the insatiable appetite for all things Cowboys.

“On and off the field, in season and out of season, there is a small soap opera going on every day,” Jones told my colleague Mike Ozanian last fall during a taping of ForbesSportsMoney on the YES Network. “Everyone knows that marketing, especially in this day and time, is just another way to promote the circus, so to speak.”

The New York Yankees climbed to second, and the New York Knicks rounded out the top five.

Here’s the full 50 to finish with the US dollar value of each:

1. Dallas Cowboys ($5b)
2. New York Yankees ($4.6b)
3. Real Madrid ($4.24b)
4. Barcelona ($4.02b)
5. New York Knicks ($4b)
6. Manchester United ($3.81b)
7. New England Patriots ($3.8b)
8. Los Angeles Lakers ($3.7b)
9. Golden State Warriors ($3.5b)
10. Los Angeles Dodgers/New York Giants ($3.3b)
12. Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Rams ($3.2b)
14. Washington Redskins/Chicago Cubs ($3.1b)
16. San Francisco 49ers ($3.05b)
17. Bayern Munich ($3.02b)
18. San Francisco Giants ($3b)
19. Chicago Bulls/Chicago Bears ($2.9b)
21. New York Jets ($2.85b)
22. Houston Texans/Boston Celtics ($2.8b)
24. Philadelphia Eagles ($2.75b)
25. Manchester City ($2.69b)
26. Denver Broncos ($2.65b)
27. Green Bay Packers ($2.63b)
28. Atlanta Falcons ($2.6b)
29. Baltimore Ravens ($2.59b)
30. Pittsburgh Steelers ($2.59b)
31. Seattle Seahawks ($2.58b)
32. Chelsea ($2.58b)
33. Miami Dolphins ($2.58b)
34. Oakland Raiders ($2.42b)
35. Minnesota Vikings ($2.4b)
36. Indianapolis Colts ($2.38b)
37. Brooklyn Nets ($2.35b)
38. Houston Rockets/Carolina Panthers/New York Mets ($2.3b)
41. Los Angeles Chargers ($2.28b)
42. Arsenal ($2.27b)
43. Dallas Mavericks ($2.25b)
44. Los Angeles Clippers ($2.2b)
45. Liverpool ($2.18b)
46. Arizona Cardinals ($2.15b)
47. St Louis Cardinals/Kansas City Chiefs ($2.1b)
49. Jacksonville Jaguars ($2.08b)
50. New Orleans Saints ($2.08b)

[sources:forbes&goal]