Is the NFL America's most valuable sports league?
Anyone who follows other sports plus the NFL will tell you no other sports league out there does a more complete job marketing their product, engaging their target market and ensuring the product is ever-improving.
Marketing and viewing
Premier League fans should notice the recently introduced goal rush is pretty similar to the NFL redzone.
The introduction of VAR is eerily similar to how NFL officiating reviews take place. The never-ending quest to improve how up close and personal we as viewers can get is pioneered and led up front by the NFL.
The above at the World Cup 2022 would turn Twitter into a mushroom cloud but it's just another seasonal innovation for the NFL.
A staggeringly strong foundation
High School Football in America(particularly the South) is probably one of the most organized and engaging non professional sporting institutions in the world.
For context, last year, the twelve University Interscholastic League championship games averaged 18,166 fans per game.
The largest classification, Class 6A Division I, championship game between North Shore and Duncanville attracted 47,818.
In America, this isn't even surprising but for many of non-Americans the idea of over 45,000 people gathering and putting money up to watch a team filled with a bunch of kids aged 16 - 18 play a game is just ludacris.
But in America where football is THE sport in many states, it's somehow completely normal.
According to ESPN It is estimated that, the number of viewers who tuned in to view the 2020 NCAA National Chapionship Game was 18.7 million. This just further shows how much attention football can command in America. Almost 19 million people tuned in to see freshmen to seniors play a game.
A commited fan base
One look at the NFL's Bills Mafia throwing themselves onto tables or the Raiders blackhole will make clear of a different type of fanbase than other major world sports.
I've never seen people throwing themselves onto tables before a cricket match and I've never seen people in full blown costumes to fully identify with their team at Premier League games.
Bryant-Denny Stadium, a stadium for a University(Alabama), can sit over one hundred thousand fans. Old Trafford, the stadium for football's third most valuable team Manchester United, sits about seventy six thousand fans.
It's just a different level of dedication and what makes it more impressive is how it is only concentrated in the USA.
Pockets
No other sports league enjoys more support from fans. The NFL has an international presence but it's not a global sport.
I've played basketball plenty of times but I've never been anywhere where even playing football was viable.
The NFL fans in America really commit to a team and empty out their pockets so much that the NFL can be the world's most valuable league when whole continents don't consistently watch their games or support their products.
Even just finding the pigskin is difficult let alone all the other stuff. But looking at the list below, the NFL has more valuable franchises than the NBA who enjoy a more established international fan base.
Here’s a guide to the 40 most valuable professional sports franchises in the United States (as of 2020):
