Chu's Topic of the Week: NFL Revenue
The business side of football is pretty interesting to me. It explains some of the behavior of the league, provides insight into how the entertainment industry works, and reveals a really unique concept they use: economic socialism. The NFL, made up of 32 individual entities, gives each other a portion of their revenue.
First, let's reveal some quick facts about where the money comes from. See this chart below and some definitions:
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National Revenue is mostly the TV deals from Fox, CBS, ESPN, NBC, Amazon and others.
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Seating/Suites/Concessions/Parking is self explanatory
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Team Sponsorships are mostly from the naming rights of the stadium and ads you see around the stadium.
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Local Media is the broadcast rights to preseason games and radio
Next, the revenue sharing. It's really unique for independent businesses deciding that it's in their best interest to give each other a cut of their revenue. Imagine if Chick-Fil-A got a cut of every McDonald's burger sold and vice versa.
It starts with the National Revenue (aka TV deals). That huge amount of revenue is split equally 32-ways. But it goes beyond that. Even a third of the ticket sales are shared amongst the rest of the league. Parking & concession revenue are not shared. Jersey sales are the same way, but closer to about 10-15% of it. Next time you buy an NFL ticket to your favorite team or jersey of your favorite player, just remember that some of that money is going to all the teams you hate.
Why would the wealthier teams do this? Perhaps a topic for another week.
Power Rankings
Oh, the power rankings?
Tier 1: David, Josh, Brett (just barely)
Tier 2: Mike, Will, Chu, Jordan
Tier 3: Joe, Zack, Scott
Here are the sources because I'm a good little journalist:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/do-nfl-players-make-money-jersey-sales-all-need-know-profit-sharing
https://www.sportico.com/leagues/football/2024/how-nfl-teams-owners-make-money-1234795113/