Money might buy star power, but does it buy success on the sports field? From the ever-reliable Real Madrid (who have added two Champions Leagues and three La Ligas in the last five years) to the Dallas Cowboys (whose big-money moves are yet to get them closer to the Super Bowl), we've crunched the numbers to see whether annual spending actually results in, well... results!

Read on as we grade 15 high-spending sport behemoths on their cash-to-cup conversion rate, starting from worst (F) to best (A+). All dollar amounts in US dollars.

Few teams in modern sports have burned through cash quite like the Brooklyn Nets. Since moving from New Jersey in 2012 and being bought by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, and later Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, the franchise has gone all-in on superstar signings. The results have been mixed.

In the past decade alone, Brooklyn has spent an estimated $1.4 billion (£1.1bn) on player salaries, consistently sitting near or above the NBA’s soft-cap threshold. The 2021–22 season was a financial high-water mark, when the 'Nets superteam' of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden cost the franchise over $170 million ($129m) in payroll – plus another $90 million (£68.5m) in tax penalties.

The return on investment? Not great. Despite years of aggressive spending, Brooklyn hasn’t made it past the Eastern Conference Semifinals since 2014.

As for the superteam we mentioned, it turned out to be one of the biggest 'what ifs' in NBA history. Due to multiple injuries and Irving's decision not to get vaccinated for COVID-19, which meant he missed the majority of the 2021/2022 season, the Nets have spent hundreds of millions on three future Hall of Famers, fielded them together for only 16 total games, and didn’t even make an NBA Finals appearance. Ouch.

Since acquiring the franchise in November 2020, billionaire owner Steve Cohen has transformed the Mets into MLB’s biggest spenders.

Between 2021 and 2024, the club’s combined payroll and luxury-tax payments topped $1.36 billion (£1bn). In 2024 alone, the Mets set a new regular-season payroll record at $333 million, and when luxury tax was included, their total cost hit $430 million (£328m).​ That's bigger than the GDP of some countries.

So, has the newfound investment translated into success? Not fully. The Mets reached the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in 2024 – their deepest run under Cohen. Yet in 2025, a season built around elite payroll saw them collapse late and miss the playoffs altogether, prompting Cohen’s public apology to fans, calling the outcome “unacceptable".

In fact, on win‑percentage alone, the team sits 13th in MLB since Cohen’s era began. That's despite spending more money than nearly all other teams.

Unlike soccer clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint‑Germain (PSG), NFL teams cannot "buy" players from other teams for a transfer fee, and a salary cap tightly controls salaries. That said, the Dallas Cowboys – valued in excess of $12 billion (£9.1bn) according to Forbes – have still thrown big money at their squad over the years. In 2024, the Cowboys posted a salary‐cap hit of $255 million (£195m), one of the highest in league history. 

But how has the world's highest-valued franchise performed on the field? Once referred to as "America’s Team", the Cowboys have gone nearly 30 years without a Super Bowl despite having one of the biggest fan bases in sports history. Regular-season wins are plentiful, even posting double‑digit win totals, yet playoff droughts persist. 

From a newly transformed team to a historic behemoth. English soccer club Manchester United won 38 major trophies under Sir Alex Ferguson’s 26-year reign. Since his departure, the club’s spending power has remained immense but been hampered by a woefully executed recruitment strategy. 

Under the controversial ownership of the Glazer family, United has spent around $2.1 billion (£1.6bn), including marquee signings such as Paul Pogba ($117m/£89m), Harry Maguire ($105m/£80m), and Jadon Sancho ($96m/£73m).

Recently, INEOS's 25% stake has injected fresh investment into the club. The big question now: has all this money translated into meaningful results on the pitch?

Arguably, no sports team on the planet commands more attention than Manchester United, which has made its fall from grace one of the most talked-about stories in modern football.

The club has endured more than its fair share of setbacks: David Moyes’ and Ralf Rangnick’s disastrous tenures; Van Gaal’s premature exit; Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Mourinho’s promising starts that quickly fizzled; Ten Hag’s costly slide into mediocrity, and manager Ruben Amorim's low win percentage. 

Even the most loyal United supporters will admit that five major trophies in 12 years, when compared with the eye-watering spending during this period, represents a meagre return on investment. It’s a cautionary tale of how money alone doesn’t guarantee success at the highest level.

Since Todd Boehly’s consortium took over in 2022, Chelsea have become the headline act for extravagant football spending. Between 2022 and 2025, the club has reportedly spent over $1.3 billion (£990m) on player transfers. That's more than any other team in world football. Notable signings include Enzo Fernández ($130m/£99.9m) and Moisés Caicedo ($146m/£111m).

Despite selling several academy products for profit, Chelsea’s wage bill still ranks among the Premier League’s highest, hovering around $288 million (£220m) annually. The club’s transfer strategy has centred on long-term contracts, designed to amortise record fees across a decade – a financial loophole the Premier League has since closed.

Since winning the Champions League in 2021, Chelsea's poor league form meant they missed out on Champions League football entirely in the subsequent two seasons. Managerial churn didn't help, with Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino both biting the bullet in the Boehly era.

But lately, they seem to have turned a corner. Under the latest manager, Enzo Maresca, the club has won two trophies: the 2024/2025 Europa Conference League and the 2024/25 Fifa Club World Cup. Despite this, it currently ranks among the most expensive squad rebuilds in soccer, and the club should arguably have more trophies to show for it.

The New York Yankees got the nickname the “Evil Empire” in the early 2000s, a period when the team’s unchecked spending and on-field dominance made them both admired and despised. During that era, the Yankees routinely outspent rivals, building superstar lineups featuring Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Roger Clemens. 

In 2009, the label was revived when they spent nearly $425 million (£324m) in one offseason to sign CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett, leading directly to another World Series win.

Since then, the $8 billion (£6bn) franchise has been a bit more cautious. In 2025, the Yankees’ spending maxed out at $298 million (£227m), the third highest in Major League Baseball.

It's fair to say the Yankees' performance hasn't lived up to spending expectations. Since that decorated 2009 season, the Bronx Bombers have failed to reach another World Series – their longest drought since the 1980s. And in 2023 and 2024, it got worse with the club even missing the playoffs entirely. 

The money hasn’t stopped flowing, but the glory days of domination are still waiting to return.

While Formula 1’s cost cap limits a team’s on‑track development budget (it's currently capped at around $135m/£133m annually), major expenses such as driver salaries, marketing, and senior management compensation fall outside that cap. This makes them key levers for elite teams.

Ferrari has used this money to recruit Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, with the driver's contract reportedly costing roughly $60 million (£45.6m) per year. It's one of the biggest signings in F1 history. Combined with Charles Leclerc’s renewed deal, which will see the Monégasque driver earn up to $55.9 million (£42.6m) by 2029, Ferrari's driver lineup alone costs the equivalent of almost a third of their on-track budget. 

Despite the premium paid to drivers and management, Ferrari’s results since 2021 present a mixed picture. The team has yet to secure a Drivers’ or Constructors’ Championship since 2007 and 2008 respectively. While Leclerc achieved several race wins (including hit‑lap highlights in 2023‑24), Ferrari has fallen short of consistent dominance. 

Additionally, the recent Lewis Hamilton experiment has yet to justify its high cost, with the seven-time world champion frequently being outpaced by his teammate in both qualifying sessions and race finishes this season.

Similar to Manchester City, Paris Saint‑Germain (PSG) received a serious cash injection when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) took over the club in June 2011. This allowed the French powerhouse to spend in excess of $2.6 billion (£1.9bn) on incoming transfers during this period.

The largest single‑window expenditure came in 2023‑24, when PSG shelled out nearly $448 million (£341m) on new signings, including the latest Balon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé. The club’s net transfer spend remains among the highest in Europe, easily eclipsing peers.

So that must mean guaranteed success over the past decade, right? Not exactly. Big money means even bigger expectations, and up until Luis Enrique's reign as head coach of the French behemoth, fans weren't attributing much praise to the team for routinely winning their domestic Ligue 1 title.

But in 2024, the club came alive and won its first-ever Champions League, defeating Inter Milan 5‑0 in the final. That's a record margin in a major European final. 

Another big spender in basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers have shelled out well over $1.4 billion (£1.1bn) in player salaries over the last 10 years. Notable splurges included signing LeBron James in 2018 to a four-year, $154 million (£117m) contract – a move that was followed by the 2019 trade for Anthony Davis, costing not only draft capital but also a $190 million (£144m) extension.

The team’s total payroll for 2025 sits at around $180 million (£137m), placing it among the league’s top three biggest spenders.

Unlike the Nets, the Lakers' biggest expenditures have arguably paid off. But not everything has landed in the hoop.

In 2020, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the roster, the Lakers cruised to their 17th NBA Championship. Since then, however, the return on investment has dwindled. Between 2021 and 2025, Los Angeles has made the playoffs just twice, with one deep run to the Western Conference Finals in 2023.

Barcelona! The Catalan giants have claimed 10 La Liga titles in the 21st century, peaking under Pep Guardiola’s golden generation of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets. But ever since Guardiola’s departure in 2012, the club's spending has exploded, with managers trying to create the next great team. 

Between 2013 and 2025, Barca spent $1.8 billion (£1.4bn), one of the largest expenditures in world football. They also controversially racked up a wage bill of $773 million (£586m), the highest in Europe at its peak. This led to Messi’s emotional exit in 2021 as the club could no longer afford his salary under La Liga’s financial rules.

Club President Joan Laporta was also forced to sell off future TV and merchandising rights as part of “economic levers” just to register new signings like Robert Lewandowski and Jules Koundé in 2022.

For the most part, results on the pitch have fluctuated. Aside from their treble-winning season under Luis Enrique in 2015, Barca haven't been able to capture the same European domination since.

However, it's a far cry from being labelled a fallen giant. The club has still claimed multiple domestic trophies and its new generation of young talent, like Gavi, Pedri, and Lamine Yamal, show signs that something really special might be around the corner. 

Under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool has maintained a more measured approach to the transfer window compared with some Premier League rivals. For instance, despite big signings like Virgil van Dijk ($99m/£75m) and Allison Becker ($88m/£67m), the club often balanced books via outgoing transfers and tight wage control. 

That was until 2025, when everything changed dramatically. Fresh off the back of winning the Premier League, Liverpool went for the financial jugular, spending approximately $585 million (£446m) and breaking the Premier League transfer record twice in one window with their signings of Florian Wirtz ($153m/£116m) and Alexander Isak ($165m/£125m).

FSG’s approach to spend smarter, not harder, has paid off for the Reds. On top of several domestic cups, Liverpool bagged the Champions League in 2019 and their first Premier League/First Division title since 1990 a year later. In 2024/25, the smartly recruited squad lifted their second Premier League title.

But the wind has seemed to shift: despite the huge 2025 spend and expectation of dominance, Liverpool’s 2025‑26 start has been erratic, with the club enduring a worrying losing streak. Can the champions turn it around?

Over the past decade, the Golden State Warriors have transformed from a mid-market team into one of the most dominant – and valuable – franchises in world sports. According to Forbes, the team's $11 billion (£8.4bn) valuation makes them the most valuable team in the NBA. So it's no surprise they are also high spenders. 

Their combined payroll and luxury tax payments have reached a reported total of $395 million (£300m) in past seasons, and the astronomical spending fuelled a dynasty built around players Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. 

Few investments in sports have paid off like the Warriors’. Since 2015, Golden State has claimed four NBA Championships (2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022) and made six Finals appearances in eight seasons. That said, ageing stars with huge contracts will soon force the owners to decide whether it’s time to rebuild. 

Even if the dynasty’s best days are behind them, Golden State Warriors are one of the best cash-for-cup examples out there. 

If there's one team that has become synonymous with big-money spending, it's Real Madrid, helmed by the club's long-serving president Florentino Pérez. In the early 2000s, the term “Galáctico” (Spanish for galactic or superstar) was used as shorthand to describe the extravagant spending of Perez during his tenure. 

In every decade, Perez's vision has been to create a team of superstars: from Figo, Zidane, and Beckham in the 00s to Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, and Benzema in the 2010s, and now Mbappé, Bellingham, and Vinícius Jr. The “Galáctico” project has cost the club $2.6 billion (£2bn) in transfer spending across that period. But has all that investment translated to the pitch? 

Pretty much. While Real Madrid may be in a relative dip, having suffered a number of losses including manager Carlo Ancelotti and the Champions League crown, their dominance over the past two decades is unmatched. Since 2000, Los Blancos have captured eight Champions League titles, more than any other club, including an iconic three-in-a-row run from 2016 to 2018.

In that same span, they’ve also claimed eight La Liga titles, second only to one club in particular...

By Manchester City’s standards, the 2025 summer transfer window was fairly conservative, spending less than teams such as Nottingham Forest and newly-promoted Sunderland. But that's not quite reflective of their recent history. The club’s squad value is currently estimated at over $1.3 billion (£1bn), and since the Abu Dhabi Group's takeover in 2008, around $3.4 billion (£2.6bn) has been spent on transfers. 

However, the high spending comes amid speculation about the club's financial regulation. Manchester City also faces a staggering 115 alleged breaches of Premier League rules across eight of these sparkling years. 

But focusing on the pitch specifically, everything crops up golden. For the majority of this time, Manchester City have been the benchmark for success, winning multiple Premier League titles and snatching the Champions League as part of their treble-winning season in 2023. Elite results, but questions may circle around the validity of this success if they are found guilty of breaching Premier League rules.

Red Bull Racing have continued to invest heavily even after the introduction of the cost cap. Max Verstappen recently became the highest-paid driver on the grid, reportedly earning a base salary of $60 million (£46m), plus significant performance bonuses.

Even within the cap, their spending has been aggressive; the team, previously managed by Christian Horner, was found guilty of a “minor breach” of the 2021 cost cap, exceeding it by approximately $2.5 million (£1.9m).

Unlike Ferrari’s recent struggles, Red Bull’s story has been almost the exact opposite. Sharing the crown with Mercedes as kings of the hybrid era, the 2022 ground-effect regulations ushered in an era of domination for their star driver Max Verstappen. The 'Flying Dutchman' has now won four consecutive driver's titles in a row and is currently chasing his fifth.

The only blip on their otherwise stellar spending record has been the second driver position, which has often felt like a revolving door. Following Sergio Pérez’s departure due to inconsistent performances, Red Bull has cycled through several drivers in that seat. 

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