One of the best, if not the best, sources of financial information for understanding sports is Sportico.com, which is the source for the revenue data we will be using in our NFL Thursday piece today. The “business of sports” has become such a dangerous influence on the ethics, integrity, and morals of athletics today that any fan that wants a true comprehension of what’s going on behind the scenes should pay attention to it.

That being said, the NFL reported revenues of $18.7B in 2023, which outpaced both MLB and the NBA by almost $8B. Think about this information for a moment: that’s how significantly more popular professional football in America is than baseball and basketball. It has national appeal, as evidenced by the data we’re going to analyze below illustrates: everyone watches the NFL, even if their local teams aren’t playing:

  • Almost two thirds of that $18.7B comes from national television and media rights (66 percent, to be exact). So, entertainment entities shelled out $12B-plus last year for the privilege of distributing the games on live television, streaming services, and replay platforms. That’s an insane amount of money, and it mandates that people tune in. Consider this when you think about the NFL’s political stances.
  • Only one sixth of revenue comes from ticket sales (17 percent), which is surprising considering the cost of tickets these days. We went to two San Francisco 49ers games last year, one in the regular season and one in the postseason, and the cost was relatively insane. We won’t post the numbers here, but suffice to say, if you want to take your family to the Super Bowl, good luck with that, Average Joe.
  • About one tenth of revenues come from team sponsorships, whether that be advertising in the stadiums or the naming rights to the stadiums themselves. Old-school fans lament the idea of changing the monikers of arenas on a regular basis, but obviously this helps defray the costs of ticket sales, in truth. We’d rather see that family of four pay less for tickets and put up with stupid naming.
  • Oddly, only 6 percent of revenues come from parking and concessions, which—again—is surprising, considering the ridiculous costs of both. Then again, teams may not own all the parking lots around their stadiums, either … only the closest ones. Still, those usually come with a high price tag for the season ticket holders. And for concessions, beer sales alone seem to be ridiculous, when you can get a six pack at the 7-Eleven store nearby for the same price as one warm, flat beer at the stadium. Toss in the apparel sales (hats, jerseys, etc.), and it seems like this would be more of the revenue pie.
  • Lastly, only 1 percent of revenues come from local media rights, which shows that it’s not so much about the local fans’ dedication but the national appeal of the team’s brand and players on the field. The NFL may have regional fan bases in terms of ticket sales, but the reality of the sport as one made for television is never more clear than this little tidbit: the ratio of national media revenue to local media revenue dwarfs by far each of the other three major sports (hockey as the fourth). Remember.

What does the average fan make of all this? The recognition of what “sells” nationally is more important than what sells locally, for one. Your local team is not a community treasure, basically; we’ve explored this before, as we compare U.S. sports to English soccer, for example. Your local team is a national, money-making entity for the owner, and the owners owe the local fans next to nothing. It’s a sport best done on TV.

Soon, we will compare these NFL numbers to those for MLB, the NBA, and the NHL. Yet, again, professional football is the most popular sport in the United States, and it’s not even close. The primary reason for its massive revenue edge is the appeal of a national TV audience, as well. There is a 25-percent gap between the NFL and its closest challenger (the NBA) in that revenue percentage noted above. Football remains king.