9.3 billion dollars is a lot of money. In the first NFL labor lockout in 24 years, many people are left wondering what the players and owners are really at a conflict about. I mean, if they’re already making millions, who cares if they make 6 million or 16 million. But with salaries able to be so high, how is the league making 9.3 billion dollars anyway?
By: Michael Nerantzis
The biggest money maker for the NFL is television contracts. Those companies include FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN. Between all those networks, the NFL rakes in 4 billion dollars! That money gets evenly distributed between all the teams regardless of how many primetime (late games) you were on. Last NFL season, the top 19 highest watched shows were NFL and out of the top thirty, 28 were NFL games. That includes the Super Bowl, which was the highest watched broadcast ever.
The next second biggest revenue maker is sponsorships. That is everything from Nike making the jerseys, to FedEx sponsoring a stadium, to Verizon being the NFL’s OFFICIAL wireless provider. Over two billion dollars come from companies desperately trying to get there name on the NFL. Companies do get exclusive rights at stadiums though. Anheuser-Busch, a beer company, pays the league 700 million dollars, but, they are able to have their beer poured at every NFL stadium.
Obviously, tickets and concessions account for a part of the pie. The NFL made over 1 billion dollars last year on that alone. Interesting, considering the fact that sales were down from the previous year. Last year, 17 million people walked into an NFL stadium, “It’s a great experience and is very fun,” says avid Broncos fan Forrest Langhorne. “I really like seeing my team play.”
I don’t think anyone knows what will occupy their time on Sunday afternoons this fall. How long will it be until we do see another game? One thing we do know is that someone out there, primarily the owners, will be making a pretty hefty profit from this lockout.