At first glance, comparing American football to basketball looks like an apples and oranges situation since there are a lot more differences between the two sports leagues than just the shape of the balls they use:
- NFL teams have 53 players while most NBA teams employ only 12-15.
- The NFL teams only play 16 games in a regular season while the NBA teams play 82.
- NFL players purposely collide into each other while NBA players do their best to avoid that.
- The NFL is made up of players of all shapes, speeds and sizes while the NBA prefers only the big and very tall.
- The NFL season culminates with one giant Super Bowl while the NBA season ends with a weeklong, best-out-of-seven-games tournament.
And the list goes on and on.
But when it comes to the NFL and the NBA, what is worth comparing is the one thing that does make them both very similar, and that’s their desire to become America’s favorite (and biggest money making) past time.
Which league is leading in that goal right now?
Which sport do more Americans prefer in 2018?
Which league is better preparing themselves for worldwide domination?
In this article, we’re going to answer those questions and a whole lot more as we examine and compare the NFL and the NBA – their revenue, salaries, viewership, attendance and ratings – and try to figure out which sports league is positioning itself to be number one in America and in the world.
Let’s start by comparing each league’s revenue.
NFL vs NBA: Revenue
Which League Makes More Money, NFL or NBA?
Since there are only 256 regular-season NFL games each year and 1,230 NBA matchups, you’d think that the bigger overall revenue stream would go to basketball.
But it doesn’t.
Last season, the NFL made $14 billion in total revenue, which was over $900 million more than they made the season before and a $6 billion increase from 2010.
The NBA, on the other hand, made $7.4 billion in revenue last season, up 25% from the prior season when they made a total of $5.94 billion.
NFL teams average more revenue, as well.
NFL sponsorship revenue reached $1.32 billion in the 2017-18 season, with beer, trucks and fast food being among the largest spenders.
NBA sponsorship revenue was $1.12 billion in the 2017-18 season, with insurance, fast food restaurants and medical retail being among the largest spenders. Beer, surprisingly, slipped down two slots to become the seventh biggest NBA sponsor.
What’s the Difference in How the Two Leagues Share Their Revenue?
Of the $14 billion that the NFL made last season, mostly from national media deals, they distributed more than half of it to its individual franchises.
Last season, every NFL team received $226.4 million in national revenue sharing, which comes out to more than $7.2 billion across the league.
To keep the NBA fair, all Basketball Related Income (BRI) – ticket purchases and concessions, TV deals, merchandising rights and apparel sales – is excluded from revenue sharing. Instead, all NBA teams pool their annual revenue together and then redistribute it – from high grossing teams to low grossing ones – and each team receives revenue equal to the salary cap that year. The salary cap for the 2017-18 NBA season was $99.093 million.
Which Makes More Money – the Super Bowl or the NBA Playoffs?
This one isn’t even close.
The Super Bowl actually brings in more revenue than both the NBA Playoffs and the MLB Playoffs combined.
Last season, the revenue from Super Bowl LII easily surpassed $500 million. Ad spending alone for in-game spots exceeded $400 million, as it did the previous season. Anheuser-Busch InBev and Fiat Chrysler Automotive were the top-spending parent companies in that game.
It’s a lot harder to track the total revenue of the NBA Playoffs since each season it lasts anywhere from four games (if it’s a sweep) to seven games, and obviously the more games there are, the more money there is to be made by everyone.
Some more cynical fans suspect the reason some series go longer is because everyone wants to make more money.
At the end of the 2016-17 season, for instance, the NBA Playoffs between Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors went six games and brought $223.9 million in ad revenue. AdAgereported that, “A seventh game likely would have tossed another $45 million on the pile.”
In last season’s NBA Playoffs, the Warriors swept the Cavs in four games, so the money was considerably less than the prior two years when there were more games.
Bottom line: the Super Bowl typically makes more than twice as much as the NBA Playoffs.
Which Teams Are Worth More, NFL or NBA?
When it comes to team worth, the NFL has the advantage over the NBA by a whopping 52%. That big number is a bit deceiving, though, since that spread has been more than halved in the past five years due to the NBA’s recent growth spurt.
The average NFL team is worth $2.5 billion and according to Forbes Magazine that’s up 8% over last year. All but five of the NFL teams are worth at least $2 billion.
For the eleventh year in a row, the Dallas Cowboys are the NFL’s most valuable team and the world’s most valuable franchise. They’re worth $4.8 billion, and that’s up 14%. The Buffalo Bills are last on the list with a value of $1.6 billion.
The average NBA team is now worth a record $1.65 billion. This is the first time in the history of that league that every team is worth over $1 billion.
The New York Knicks are the most valuable, worth $3.6 billion. Bringing up the NBA rear are the New Orleans Pelicans, worth $1 billion, which is up from $750 million a year ago.
Why Are NBA Teams Worth 22% More in 2018 Than in 2017?
Not only have NBA team values increased by 22% in the last year, franchise values have tripled over the last five years.
The major reason for that?
The league has positioned itself into the international market better than any other major U.S. sports league. NBA revenue outside the United States has been growing at a rate in the high teens annually.
Sal Galatioto, the president of leading sports finance and advisory firmGalatioto Sports Partners, says, “The NBA is extremely well-positioned for international growth. The product is excellent, and interest in basketball around the world continues to flourish.”
Much of the NBA’s international reach-out has been focused on China and Mexico.
Is the NFL as International as the NBA?
Not really.
The NFL hasn’t done as much as the NBA to reach international audiences, and that’s one of the factors that’s hurting its overall numbers. The one region they’re focusing on?
The United Kingdom.
According to the Econ Review, NFL viewers in the United Kingdom increased by 60% in 2017, not an easy feat given that rugby is the primary sport known to those English sports fans.
In 2018, there are three NFL games scheduled to be played in the U.K.:
- Week 6 (Oct 14) the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Oakland Raiders
- Week 7 (Oct 21) the Tennessee Titans vs. the Los Angeles Chargers
- Week 8 (Oct 28) the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars
READ ALSO: NFL 2020 Week 1 Predictions and Picks
NFL vs NBA: Salaries
What Is the Average NFL Salary Compared to the Average NBA Salary?
First year players in the NFL can expect to make an average of $365,000 per year, and that constantly rises anywhere from $5 to $10 thousand per year. Rookies make their big money through bonuses, including a roster bonus, a signing bonus, contact incentives and a few other formats.
Rookies typically start off at the NFL minimum, but exceptions are made for exceptional players. For example, this year Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield signed a four-year deal worth $32.68 million (with a $21.85 million signing bonus) and running back Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants agreed to a contract worth $31.2 million (with a $20.77 million signing bonus).
The average salary of a typical NFL player is $1.9 million per year while the average salary for an NFL quarterback is about $4 million per year. The top ten highest-paid NFL athletes are all quarterbacks – the biggest salaries going to Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons who makes an average of $30 million per season plus $5 million in endorsem*nts and Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings who makes $28 million per season plus about $1 to $1.5 million in endorsem*nts.
(For a complete list of the NFL’s top ten highest players, check out our in-depth article on all ten of those athletic millionaires.)
The NBA has minimum and maximum salary levels established.
The minimum salary figures are based on the years of NBA experience a player has. A rookie can expect to be paid at least $838,464 per season, and in their second year that jumps to $1,349,383. The minimum salary for a player with five years in the NBA is $1,757,429, and for 10+ years it’s $2,393,887.
Maximum salary levels in the NBA change depending on if you re-sign with a team or go elsewhere.
For instance, a player re-signing with his own team for the 2018-19 NBA season with 6 years or less of experience can’t make more than $25,467,250. With 7-9 years in the NBA, the most a player can make is $30,560,700 per season. With 10+ years in the league, the most they can make is $35,654,150. They can expect an 8% annual raise for up to five years.
For players signing with a new team, the maximums start the same but only raise by 5% yearly up to four years.
The highest-paid NBA athletes in 2018 make more considerably more than their NFL counterparts, especially when you consider their endorsem*nts.
LeBron James, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, will make a salary of $33.5 million, but when you add his $52 million worth of endorsem*nt deals, his yearly total will be $85.5 million.
Runner up in the NBA salary department is Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who will make $34.9 million in salary and $42 million in endorsem*nts for a grand total of $76.9 million.
Why do NFL players make less total money than NBA players?
It actually comes down to basic math.
There are 32 NFL teams with 53-man rosters, so that’s 1,696 players getting a share of endorsem*nts and league revenue.
In the NBA, there are 30 teams but each normally has 12-15 players on their roster, so there are only 450 total NBA players vying for endorsem*nt deals.
Where it really makes a difference is with revenue sharing.
Why Do NFL Players Make Less Total Money Than NBA Players?
As a result of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), the NFL currently shares 48.5 percent of all league revenue with its players. In 2017, the NFL ownership kept just over $8 billion in revenue for themselves, while the players took just less than that.
Under the current labor contract, NBA players get about half of all league revenue before expenses. That means last season they shared roughly $3.7 billion.
But here is where the NBA has an advantage over the NFL.
There are a whole lot more football players than basketball players, so each piece of the NFL revenue pie will always be smaller than the NBA slice.
League revenues are split between 1,696 total players in the NFL while in the NBA it’s only split between 450 players.
$8 billion / 1,696 = $4.717 million per NFL player.
$3.7 billion / 450 = $8.222 million per NBA player.
NFL vs NBA: Viewership
Which Is Viewed More in the U.S., the NFL or the NBA?
There’s no doubt NFL viewership is going down according to Austin Karp of the Sports Business Daily.
NBC’sSunday Night Football, ESPN’sMonday Night Footballand the sharedThursday Night Footballpackage (between NBC, CBS, NFL Network and Amazon) all declined in viewership for the second straight season.
The raw numbers (avg. viewership):
NBC’sSunday Night Football
2017: 18.175 million
2016: 20.323 million
2015: 22.522 million
ESPN’sMonday Night Football
2017: 10.757 million
2016: 11.390 million
2015: 12.896 million
ThursdayNight Football(NBC/CBS/NFL Network)
2017: 10.937 million
2016: 12.438 million
2015: 12.425 million
So how do those declining NFL viewership numbers compare to the NBA?
It’s not even close.
According to Variety, the NBA’s average television viewership rose to a four-year high in 2017-2018. The Nielson-measured average total viewers for national telecasts of NBA games was up 8% from the 2016-17 season at 1.28 million. And that’s across the league’s four television-network partners — ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, TNT — and the highest average since the NBA’s 2013-14 season.
In other words, for right now, the NFL has nothing to worry about, but given the downward trend of NFL numbers and the upward surge of NBA viewers, that may not always be the case.
When Did the NBA Start Playing and Broadcasting in China?
In 2004, the NBA became the first American professional sports league to play in China when Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings in a preseason game in Shanghai.
“There are 300 million people that play basketball in China,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told CNN. “We have over 100 million social media followers in China.”
During the 2017-18 NBA season, theGolden State WarriorsandMinnesota Timberwolvesplayed two preseason games in China, atShenzhenon October 5 andShanghaion October 8. Minnesota won the first game 111–97, while Golden State came out on top of the second one, 142–110.
