Forbes recently released its NFL team values for 2010. In 2009, as discussed in a post last month, the Lions were ranked 28th in the NFL and valued at $867 million. This year, oddly enough, the Lions' value dropped six percent to $817 million, yet the team moved up to 27th place in the NFL.
↵For 2009, the Lions were ahead of only the Jaguars, Falcons, Vikings and Raiders. This year, they are still ahead of the Vikings, Raiders and Jaguars, which bring up the rear of the values list, but now they are also ahead of the Bills and Rams. The Falcons moved ahead of Detroit, but the Bills and Rams lost 12 and 15 percent of their value from 2009, respectively. The drastic drop vaulted the Lions ahead of both teams and up to 27th despite dropping down to $817 million from $867 million.
↵As a whole, the NFL's team values dropped two percent over the course of the last year. The average value is still over $1 billion, but according to Forbes, this is the first league decline since 1998. In that regard, it's a good thing the Lions lost only six percent, because other teams have had it much worse over the last year. Considering the Lions haven't even sniffed consistent winning in the last decade, I'd say coming in at 27th on the values list isn't bad by any means.