NEW YORK – When the NFL and players struck a deal to end the league’s lockout, they didn’t just save the football season that begins its first full day of games on Sunday. They saved the most profitable sport in America, the most popular show on TV and billions of dollars that would have disappeared from the economy.
During the regular season, the National Football League itself expects to take in about $9.5 billion. The league estimates that sponsorship revenue alone, which is included in that figure, will be up 15 percent from last year.
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But the impact of the 10-year labor agreement the league reached in July to end a four-mouth lockout reaches far beyond the NFL’s big corporate sponsors, billionaire owners and millionaire players.
The league supports about 110,000 jobs in NFL cities — not just tailbacks and punters but hotel workers and sports-bar owners.
Overall, the games add about $5 billion to the broader economy in NFL cities, according to an analysis prepared for the NFL Players Association by Edgeworth Economics.
Now, NFL cities, fans, advertisers, restaurants and bars are preparing for the seasonal economic windfall that comes with the football season.
“It’s the game we most care about,” said Rick Burton, a sports marketing professor at Syracuse University. “The largest number of Americans would probably say they have some level of affinity or passion for NFL football.”
NFL programming generates $3.2 billion in advertising revenue for TV networks, according to data from Kantar Media.
No other event gives advertisers as much exposure — one reason Bud Light is paying $1.2 billion to be the NFL’s official beer sponsor over the next six years.
“For advertisers that are targeting men — and increasingly targeting women — the NFL provides great demographics,” said Burton, the Syracuse professor.
Since the labor deal was signed, electronics maker Bose, Marriott International and financial services company United States Automobile Association have all come on board as sponsors.
PepsiCo renewed a 10-year deal and General Motors also renewed its sponsorship.
These deals are worth about $2.5 billion in revenue directly to the NFL over the next 10 years, according to league.
NFL ad revenue isn’t enough for TV networks to make a profit on the $4 billion they pay the league each year for the rights to air the games.
But Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN get an enormous audience for promoting their other shows.
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