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Why The NFL is the Most Popular Sport in America

By mfitz, Section NFL
Posted on Wed Jun 25 2008 at 10:45 PM EST Printer Friendly Page
More on: NFL, Football, MLB (all tags)

Revenue sharing, salary caps and the vision of a few men many years ago has turned the NFL into the most popular sport in America.  

Decisions made many years ago by insightful men such as Pete Rozelle, Wellington Mara and many others laid the groundwork for the NFL we know today.  

The vision of these men has withstood record breaking television contracts, mammoth sponsorship deals, multi-million dollar signing bonuses and the evolution of the game into a multi-billion dollar business.  

Their ideas were filled with foresight that we are only truly seeing the benefits of today.

Although it took years of complicated negotiations, player strikes and lockouts to achieve the success the league is seeing today, the overall vision was quite simple.  

The vision was that the more popular the entire league became, the more financially beneficial it would be for everyone.  

The wisdom and foresight of this vision is being seen in full force today as the NFL is enjoying unprecedented popularity and success.  

So, why is the NFL so successful?

The reason is due to the complete parity in the league.  

Unlike most professional sports today, no matter where you live in the country, your team has an equal chance to win the Super Bowl.  This has caused the game to grow in popularity throughout every corner of the country, not just in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angles.  

This widespread popularity has led to wealth unheard of anywhere else in the sporting world, as foreseen by Rozelle, Mara and many others.  

Currently the wealthiest team in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, are valued at $1.5 billion by Forbes.  The least wealthy team, the Minnesota Viking, are still valued at $782 million.  

This parity in team valuation can be seen in no other sport other than the NFL and the reason for this parity in team's bank accounts is due to the parity on the field.  

League parity makes for a more exciting product, which makes for a more popular product which in turn leads to greater wealth for everyone.  

The parity seen in the NFL today can be attributed to two main principles; equal revenue sharing and a salary cap.
2/3 of all NFL revenue comes from television contracts.  That money is distributed 100% equally amongst all teams in the league.  The large percentage of the remaining revenue comes from sponsors such as Rebook, Gatorade, Coors, etc.  All the sponsorship money is, again, distributed 100% equally amongst all teams.  Finally there is the revenue that comes in through NFL licensed apparel, which, not to sound repetitive, is again distributed 100% equally amongst all teams.  

This idea of equal revenue sharing ensures all teams are provided with more than enough money to put a quality football team on the field.  

To make things even better, there is a league salary cap, meaning that no team can pay exceedingly more than another to acquire a team full of all-stars.  

The current NFL business model should be an example for all other sports.  

Revenue sharing, salary caps and the vision of a few men many years ago has made the NFL head and shoulders above any other American sport in terms of popularity.

To really see how ahead of their time the NFL was, one needs to look no further than how leagues such as Major League Baseball continue to struggle with an idea that was perfected by the NFL many years ago.

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Why The NFL is the Most Popular Sport in America | 6 comments (4 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden)
popularity (#2)
by kroberts on Mon Mar 31 2008 at 8:43 PM EST
I would have to disagree that the NFL is the most popular. Most glamorous and competitive? Yes. But not the most popular. It's the only major professional sport with a truly great post-season format, keeping the underdog versus favorite alive, exciting, and relative.

Baseball and basketball have too long of regular seasons, too long of playoff series, and are focused far too much on money, sacrificing the true purpose of the game in an effort to make more money.

But because of their money making format, baseball and basketball will always trump football. Regardless of whether or not we as fans wish to admit it, the sport with the money is the sport with the power. However, football will always hold the richest tradition and value.

Good article, however. Everything you said, for the most part, is true and easily can be backed up. But to say football is at the top of the three headed sports monster is quite a dream.

Popularity of Football (#3)
by mfitz on Tue Apr 01 2008 at 12:00 AM EST
According to USA Today the NFL is America's richest and most powerful sports league.
USA Today Quote: "The NFL takes in more than $6 billion in annual revenue. The average value of NFL teams skyrocketed from $288 million in 1998 to $898 million in 2006, says Mike Ozanian, senior editor at Forbes, which annually publishes its valuations of pro teams. That's more than twice as much as the average $431 million value for MLB franchises last year."  
ESPN pays $1.1 billion to cover 17 Monday Night Football games.  Fox sports pays an average price of $712 million per year to cover only the NFC and two Super Bowls (Super Bowls will be covered by fox twice over the next 6 years) Fox and TBS combined to pay $400 million per year to cover MLB regular season and playoff games.  
In terms of money, the NFL is clearly head and shoulders above any other professional sports league and NFL TV viewership obviously speaks for itself.

[ Parent ]
Popularity of Football (#4)
by mfitz on Tue Apr 01 2008 at 12:01 AM EST
According to USA Today the NFL is America's richest and most powerful sports league.
USA Today Quote: "The NFL takes in more than $6 billion in annual revenue. The average value of NFL teams skyrocketed from $288 million in 1998 to $898 million in 2006, says Mike Ozanian, senior editor at Forbes, which annually publishes its valuations of pro teams. That's more than twice as much as the average $431 million value for MLB franchises last year."  
ESPN pays $1.1 billion to cover 17 Monday Night Football games.  Fox sports pays an average price of $712 million per year to cover only the NFC and two Super Bowls (Super Bowls will be covered by fox twice over the next 6 years) Fox and TBS combined to pay $400 million per year to cover MLB regular season and playoff and World Series games.  
In terms of money, the NFL is clearly head and shoulders above any other professional sports league and NFL TV viewership obviously speaks for itself.

[ Parent ]
the evidence (#5)
by kroberts on Tue Apr 01 2008 at 7:14 PM EST
while it may be true the NFL garners more money, I wasn't solely saying money in exact numbers makes you number one.

my point was baseball, hockey, and basketball all have very long seasons and post-seasons, attracting more fans for a longer period of time.

You'd have to poll the nation to get the exact outcome, so aside from your little tidbit on the NFL winning out, there really is no proof to back up your claim. It's pretty much just your opinion with no real facts to back it up.

Lastly, your information in your replies doesn't list any concrete numbers to say the NFL makes the most money. And while I still believe it to be true that the sport with the money holds the power, I don't know for certain if the rest of the world agrees with that. And quite frankly, neither do you.

[ Parent ]

Why The NFL is the Most Popular Sport in America | 6 comments (4 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden)
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