NFL revenue: 2023 total reaches new heights for sports titan

Posted by Admin July 9, 2024 Sports

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 03: A detailed view of the NFL logo is seen at SoFi Stadium during the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams on October 03, 2021 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

NFL football continues to reign supreme.

Not that it’s terribly surprising that the other major American sports leagues have yet to come close to dethroning the popularity of the National Football League, but sometimes we could use a fresh reminder of what a behemoth the NFL really is.

The latest is from Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen, who reported that NFL revenue reached $13 billion nationally in 2023, up from $11.98 billion in 2022. And that’s just the national number, with total revenue estimated at closer to $20 billion.

NFL national revenue is reportedly based on “national media rights, league sponsorships and shared revenue and royalties from the league’s various affiliates and subsidiaries, such as NFL Properties, NFL International and NFL Enterprises.” Teams were paid out an average of about $400 million from the league’s revenue sharing model.

Feb. 12, 2023; Glendale, Arizona: An NFL shield logo at midield of Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

Compare the $20 billion global total to that of the other big American sports leagues. Major League Baseball generated about $11.6 billion in total revenue in 2023. The NBA raked in more than $10 billion. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said a year ago that league revenues were projected for over $6 billion in the 2023-24 season.

It’s a bit of an odd spot for the NFL here in New England. The league itself remains easily the most popular among sports fans in general, and that’s not expected to change in 2024. But the Patriots look like they’re now the worst actual team out of the four major clubs in Boston/New England, considering the Celtics are the NBA champions, the Bruins should remain a strong playoff team, and the Red Sox look like they could be playing postseason baseball in October.

MORE: Patriots announce 2024 training camp schedule

But the NFL is king. It’s been king for a long time, and will continue to be king of American sports in 2024-25, even around here. So it’ll be a bit awkward when we at 98.5 The Sports Hub are talking extensively about the Patriots, even as they (likely) lose a lot of games, while the other three teams experience significantly more success on the field/court/ice.

That’s business.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.

A summary of Boston championships in this millennium

In this millennium, compiling a summary of Boston championships is something of a never-ending task. In that way, it’s a little like home ownership. As soon as you finish one project, there always seems to be another.

But those are good problems to have.

Now that the Celtics have dispatched the Dallas Mavericks for the 18th title in franchise history, it felt like a good time to revisit the city’s historic run to the start of this millennium, during which Boston has now won 13 titles in 22 years, including at least one in each of the four major North American team sports. The Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins have gone a collective 13-7 in final games/series, a winning percentage of .650 against what is, theoretically, the toughest competition in sports.

To this point, only the Bruins have failed to win multiple championships, though they did make three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final between 2011-2019.

Where you rank all these championships is entirely up to you, but suffice it to say that championships are truly like fingerprints, each possessing distinguishing characteristics. The most rewarding of those championships? You might say the 2004 Red Sox. The most heart-stopping? Probably the 2014 Patriots. In the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, the 2013 Red Sox title meant a great deal to the community. The 2011 Bruins run may have been the most rewarding.

Regardless, each of the 13 had their own story, some (like the 2001 Patriots) associated with beginnings and others (like the 2018 Patriots) associated with endings.

These Celtics? Well, they could be both. Boston has been tracking toward this title for several years, after all, beginning when Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum each were selected with the third pick of consecutive NBA drafts.

Since that time, the Celtics have played in six conference championships, bringing their total in this millennium to 10. (Boston teams overall have made a resounding 33 trips to the league semifinals in the 2000s – 13 for the Patriots, 10 for the Celtics, seven for the Red Sox and three for the Bruins.) And yet, now that Brown and Tatum have entered their peak years, one can’t help but wonder if the duo is merely beginning their own championship era.

Today, we stop asking if Tatum and Brown can win a championship together.

And we start asking how many.

Like we said, one project inevitably leads to another.

A summary of Boston championships beginning with the Patriots’ extraordinary title in 2001:

Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.