NFL Posts Record $11 Billion in National Revenue for 2021

Published|Updated

The NFL is king.

No matter how hard ESPN tries to shove the NBA down our throats and increase its popularity, it isn’t going to happen.

And it’s not just ESPN, either. In 2015 Forbes said that the NBA was going to overtake the NFL in popularity? Two years later, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posted in The Guardian saying the same. Fast forward to the end of 2017 and ESPN did an entire segment on the idea.

Within the segment, Will Cain – formerly of ESPN and now with Fox News – explained to social justice warrior Jalen Rose why the NFL is FAR more popular. Of course, Rose and host Molly Qerim laughed at Cain’s “ridiculous” take.

Who’s laughing now?

According to Sportico, the NFL posted a record $11 billion in national revenue for the 2021-22 season. That number encompasses national media rights, league sponsorships and shared revenue. It does not include the local revenue from each team, which will push that number even higher.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in 2010 that he wanted NFL revenues to hit $25 billion by the year 2027 – a lofty 17-year goal at the time. It appears, though, that the league is on pace to meet that goal, especially with new media deals setting in.

Earlier this morning OutKick reported that it appears as though the league's Sunday Ticket package is headed to Apple, which will reportedly pay close to $3 billion for the rights.

In 2019, before the pandemic, the NFL posted total revenue around $15 billion – that figure included national and local revenue. After a couple of pandemic-affected down seasons, the NFL has picked up where it left off and is poised to blow past that $15 million figure.

The NFL historically destroys the NBA on television and is doing so again in 2022. Of the 25 most-watched telecasts so far this year, NFL games account for each of the Top 7, nine of the top 15, and 21 of the top 25.

One of the broadcasts that isn’t the NFL is still football – The College Football Playoff National Championship.

There is hope for the NBA – a basketball game did sneak into the top 25. But that was a Final Four matchup between blue bloods Duke and North Carolina. Despite holding the NBA Finals in June, the league is nowhere to be found.

But people don’t watch TV anymore, particularly younger audiences. Right? Yes, the NBA and their media lap dogs love to tell us that. But two separate pieces in the Sports Business Journal directly counter that argument.

One states that the Super Bowl set social media records with record viewing and engagement. The other explains why the NFL is immune to the “audience fragmentation” that every other telecast is feeling – like the NBA.

As for that old adage - “all talk and no action” - the NBA and its media partners love to talk. The NFL, though, is the one delivering the action.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.