Richest Sports Leagues in the World Now

If you are keen on business, you might have noticed that during the pandemic, the value of shares in sporting brands have unimaginably risen high in an abnormal economic atmosphere. It is no new fact that sports is one of the richest industries worldwide. Players like Messi or Ronaldo themselves might be an entire revenue sector. You yourself can invest in sports. Investing does not only mean in stock. You can bet on the winnings of your favorite team or player while in a match. Apps like the Bet365 app allow you to do sports betting from the comfort of your own homes. So, it comes as no surprise that each sports league generates an insane amount of revenue from ticket sales, brand partnerships and so on and so forth. Therefore, let us now take a quick look at some of the richest sports leagues in the world.

National Football League

The NFL or National Football League far surpasses the European football league with a revenue of 16 billion dollars despite the latter being way more popular globally. The NFL sources most of its fans from either the US or Canada and receives little to no interest from any other nation. Yet, it is like the financial capital of the game. It has been generating around 16 billion dollars worth of revenue which is only getting more. One source of humongous income comes from long-term contracts with various TV channels that might include some of the most popular ones like ESPN, Fox, NBC and so on. Half of the revenue that the NFL earns has to be distributed to the 32 franchises that are its parts. Out of the 50 richest franchises in the world, the NFL alone has 29 of them. It is ironic how the NFL has neither the international nor social media reach like European football and yet makes way more money than it can ever dream of. 

Major League Baseball

It is funny how the next sport in the list again does not have a globally hyped fanbase. The fans are mostly North Americans. However, more fans does not mean more revenue for despite having quite a local audience, this league in general earns revenue of more than 10 billion dollars. The chief source of income for Major League Baseball is ticket sales which is insane but then the minimum ticket price per game in 2018 was $32.44 which is a lot of money to be spent on a ticket. It has risen steadily since 2006. However, when the question of sport franchises comes up, the NFL tops it, leaving this league way behind for only 6 out of 50 most expensive teams are present here. 

National Basketball Association

Against the NFL or the MLB, the NBA enjoys a lot more popularity, especially in the North American countries. This is only expected because basketball is one of the top 5 most liked sports that has around 800 million global fans and the US is probably its strongest hold. Being the biggest basketball league in the world, it earns a revenue of more than 8 billion dollars from TV networks, international media and of course ticket sales. The least NBA franchise in 2019 was with $1 billion.