Which League Makes More Money: The NFL or the NBA?
Contents
- The NFL vs. the NBA: A Comparison of Revenues
- Which League Rakes in More Money?
- A Breakdown of the Numbers
- How do Television Contracts Play a Role?
- Which League has More Expensive Tickets?
- What about Merchandise Sales?
- What other Factors are at Play?
- The Bottom Line
- So, Which League is More Profitable?
- A Final Word
We take a look at which league makes more money – the NFL or the NBA. Which one generates more revenue?
The NFL vs. the NBA: A Comparison of Revenues
In 2018, the National Football League (NFL) generated $16 billion in revenue, whereas the National Basketball Association (NBA) generated $7.4 billion. The NFL made more than twice as much money as the NBA.
The vast majority of the NFL’s revenue comes from broadcast rights fees, while a significant portion of the NBA’s revenue comes from ticket sales and merchandising. The NFL also generates more revenue from sponsorships than the NBA does.
Both leagues generate a significant amount of money from advertising, but the NFL generates more revenue from ads because it has more viewers than the NBA does. In 2018, the average NFL game was watched by 16.5 million people while the average NBA game was watched by 1.2 million people.
Which League Rakes in More Money?
The NFL and the NBA are two of the biggest professional sports leagues in the world. But which one makes more money?
According to a recent report, the NFL generated $13 billion in revenue in 2018, while the NBA generated $8.8 billion during the same time period. Thus, it appears that the NFL brings in more money than the NBA.
However, it is worth noting that the average player salary in the NBA is higher than the average player salary in the NFL. In 2018, the average player salary in the NBA was $7.7 million, while the average player salary in the NFL was $2.7 million. Thus, while the NFL may generate more revenue than the NBA, individual NBA players make more money on average than individual NFL players
A Breakdown of the Numbers
##Which league generates more revenue, the NFL or the NBA? It’s a question that has long been debated by fans of both leagues, and there is no easy answer. Both leagues bring in huge amounts of money, but they do so in different ways. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers to see who comes out on top.
The NFL is far and away the most popular sports league in the United States and that popularity comes with a price tag. The average NFL team is worth $2.86 billion, according to Forbes, which is more than double the average value of an NBA team ($1.36 billion). That gap is even bigger when you compare the most valuable teams in each league. The Dallas Cowboys are worth an estimated $5 billion, while the most valuable NBA team the New York Knicks are worth $4 billion.
But while NFL teams are worth more on average, NBA teams generate more revenue. The average NBA team generates $196 million in revenue per season, while the average NFL team generates $170 million per season, according to Forbes. That’s a difference of nearly $26 million per team. Part of that has to do with the fact that NBA games are played in smaller arenas than NFL stadiums, so there are more tickets available to be sold. But it also has to do with the fact that the NBA has a higher percentage of its games televised than the NFL does. In other words, more people are watching NBA Games on TV than they are watching NFL games
So who comes out on top? It depends on how you look at it. If you’re talking about teams’ values, then NFL teams are worth more on average. But if you’re talking about revenue generated by each league, then the NBA brings in more money.
How do Television Contracts Play a Role?
As of 2017, the NFL has generated more revenue than any other sports league in the world. In that same year, the NBA generated $7.4 billion in revenue, which placed it second behind the NFL. A big reason for this is because the NFL has a much larger television audience than the NBA. In terms of television ratings, the NFL averaged 17.6 million viewers per game in 2016, while the NBA averaged 1.9 million viewers per game in 2015-16. This means that the NFL generates a lot more money from television contracts than the NBA does.
Which League has More Expensive Tickets?
The average price of an NFL ticket is $92, while the average price of an NBA ticket is $51. So, the NFL has more expensive tickets on average. However, this does not necessarily mean that the NFL generates more revenue from ticket sales. The NFL has more teams and a longer season than the NBA, so it is possible that the NBA generates more revenue from ticket sales despite having cheaper tickets on average.
What about Merchandise Sales?
In addition to the revenue earned from television broadcast rights, both leagues generate a significant amount of money from the sale of team merchandise. The NFL is once again the clear winner in this category, generating $3.2 billion in revenue from merchandise sales in 2014. This is almost double the amount generated by the NBA, which brought in $1.6 billion from merchandise sales that same year.
What other Factors are at Play?
Yes, the NFL generates more money than the NBA, but there are a number of other factors to consider when comparing the two leagues. Here are a few:
-The NFL has more teams than the NBA (32 vs. 30), which means more games and therefore more ticket and merchandise sales.
-The NFL also has a larger television audience, which means higher ratings and bigger advertising contracts.
-The average NFL player salary is higher than the average NBA player salary, but NBA Teams have a wider range of salaries (from minimum to maximum) than NFL teams This means that while an NBA Team may have one or two players making tens of millions of dollars per year, most of their players are only making a few million. In the NFL, there is a much smaller gap between minimum and maximum salaries, so while the average player may not make as much as his NBA counterpart, most players are still making good money.
The Bottom Line
In the end, both the NFL and the NBA make a ton of money. The NFL makes more money from its television contracts, while the NBA generates a higher percentage of its revenue from ticket sales. But both leagues are incredibly profitable, and it’s safe to say that they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
So, Which League is More Profitable?
Comparing the NFL and NBA is like comparing apples and oranges. They are two completely different types of businesses, with different business models. The NFL is a single entity, meaning that it operates as one business, with all 32 teams sharing in the league’s overall revenue. The NBA, on the other hand, is made up of 30 separate businesses, each operating independently.
With that said, let’s take a look at the numbers to see which league is more profitable.
According to Forbes, the NFL generated $13 billion in revenue in 2017, while the NBA generated $7.4 billion in the same year. When it comes to operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), the NFL generated $4.8 billion in 2017 and the NBA generated $1.9 billion. So, on both measures – revenue and operating income – the NFL comes out ahead of the NBA.
But it’s important to remember that these numbers don’t tell the whole story. The NFL may generate more revenue than the NBA, but it also has much higher expenses. In 2017, Forbes reports that the NFL had $7.3 billion in expenses, while the NBA had $5 billion in expenses. This means that on a profit margin basis (operating income divided by revenue), the NBA actually comes out ahead of the NFL, with a profit margin of 26%, compared to the NFL’s profit margin of 37%.
So, when it comes to profitability, it appears that theNBA comes out ahead of the NFL
A Final Word
In the end, it is clear that both the NFL and the NBA are extremely profitable leagues. However, the NFL seems to have a slight edge in terms of overall revenue. This is likely due to a number of factors, including the popularity of football in the United States and the league’s large television contracts.