While some of the biggest news about the NFL last year concerned its decreasing viewership, that in no way means the league made less money. In fact, the most profitable professional sports league in the United States made more money than it ever has. Despite Tom Brady’s 4 game suspension for Deflate Gate, the number of domestic abuse incidents that occurred, and the Johnny Manziel saga, advertisers were dishing out money hand over fist to get TV spots while games were airing.
The NFL’s long-standing power over TV viewers managed to draw $3.5 billion out of the various advertisers that work with the League and its network partners, which is a 3% rise over what it was in 2016, making it a record total. This all came despite an overall 8% ratings drop. So how did they break a record? Simple. Ad rates skyrockets and airtime cost a fortune.
Here are some money amounts that the TV networks made:
- FOX Networks – $1.4 billion
- NBC – $909 million
- CBS – $263 million
- ESPN – $22 million
You can see a complete breakdown at Cinema Blend
The NFL made around $5 billion total from the networks listed above, with another $2 billion or so from NFL Network, DirecTV and foreign contracts, so nobody is calling the League a loser here. Fewer people watching people does not mean fewer dollars are being watched by NFL execs and team owners.
It remains to be seen what 2017 will hold for the NFL. Advertisers may get wise to the decreased viewership but I’m sure the league is already working on hard at ways to get their viewer counts to rise. In the world of sports, the NFL is the league to beat.
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