NFL Statistics & Facts (2023)

The National Football League is on the list of the most popular professional sports leagues that enjoy massive following not only in the US but in other parts of the globe as well. While American football is mainly played on US soil, the National Football League boasts a worldwide following, all the more so after the attempts to expand its presence overseas through games played in Mexico City and London.

The National Football League is a professional football league that consists of 32 teams that square off against each other in two conferences. The NFL teams are spread out over the AFC (American Football Conference) and NFC (National Football Conference) roughly based on the region. The regular season consists of 17 weeks, and each of the 32 teams contests in 16 games. After the regular season, a 14-team single-elimination tournament takes place, and its highly-awaited culmination is the championship game Super Bowl.

The National Football League is among the most widely televised sporting leagues on a global scale, culmination is the and each year, a record-breaking number of viewers tune in, especially when the time for the annual championship game comes. Considering that the NFL is one of the biggest professional sports leagues in the US, it comes as no surprise that it attracts fans from all walks of life. Yet, the NFL is about much more than just the action on the field and what also makes it an annual cultural touchstone are the halftime show, bets, sponsorships, ticket sales, and multi-million commercials.

NFL Fans

Without a doubt, the NFL is a league that has acquired overwhelming popularity, so much so that each game attracts massive viewership and makes hundreds upon hundreds of people flock to stadiums. In this section, we will provide insight into the level of interest among NFL fans from the US based on their gender.

When male respondents are concerned, around 51% of them described themselves as avid fans. Those who said they are not fans at all were approximately 19% of respondents. The share of casual fans was 30%. The share of avid NFL fans among women is nearly twice smaller, and the number of female respondents who described themselves as avid fans were 24%.

• As of May 2023, the NFL team that has the most followers on Twitter is the New England Patriots. According to the available data, their followers were 4.69 million. The Dallas Cowboys were runner-ups, and their social media account had 4.37 million followers. The team with the least fans was Jacksonville Jaguars, as they were followed by 0.83 people.
• A survey conducted in October 2022 found that the NFL team with the most followers on Facebook was the Dallas Cowboys. With 8.9 million followers, the team tops the list of the NFL teams with the most followers on Facebook. Although the New England Patriots were at the top of the list of the most followed teams on Twitter, they rank second when the teams’ Facebook followers are considered.
• Cleveland Brown heads the list of the NFL teams when their share of subscribers on YouTube are compared. The analysis made in 2019 shows that they had over 118,000 subscribers. The New England Patriots came in second as their subscribers were 102,000.
• According to the findings of a survey conducted in 2022, the number of Americans who said that they have engaged with the NFL in some way in the last year exceeded 13 million. These figures only apply to respondents who were aged 13 to 64 years. The share of Americans who pointed out that they engage with the National Football League each week was estimated to be 58%.
• The share of Americans who are excited about the National Football League is 54%, while the respondents who said they are passionate about the sport were more than twice less and were estimated to be 28%.
• According to the available data, the 58% of respondents who said that they are fervent fans and engage with the National Football League every week, over 70% are male and are over the age of 50.
• A 2023 survey found that more than 60% of respondents think that American football is not a safe sport. The share of respondents who said that the sport is very safe is just 11%. According to a poll conducted among Americans, 80% of respondents thought that concussions are very or somewhat common in football, while those who deemed that sports-related injuries are exceptionally common in the NFL were approximately 88%.

How Interested Are Amercians in the National Football League by Ethnicity

• According to an analysis conducted in April 2023, the share of Hispanic respondents who described themselves as avid NFL fans was the highest and was estimated to be 45%. Black respondents who said they are avid fans of the football league were 42%, while the share of avid NFL fans among White respondents was 37%.

Total Revenue of All NFL Teams

• In 2021, the highest-grossing team in the NFL was the Dallas Cowboys. The revenue the team generated that year was $1.09 billion, while a year earlier, the team’s revenue was $800 million.
• The NFL tops the list when it comes to the most profitable professional sports leagues in the US.
• The total NFL revenue has increased from just $4 billion to more than $15 billion in 2019.
• According to an analysis made in 2021, the revenue the 32 NFL teams generated was $17.19 billion. A year earlier, the revenue the 32 teams produced was $12.2 billion.
• The average franchise value of the NFL teams in 2022 was $4.47 billion. Just for comparison, the same year, the average franchise value of the teams in Major League Baseball was slightly over $2 billion.
• In 2021, the average operating income of an NFL franchise was estimated to be worth $177.22 million.
• The Dallas Cowboys had the highest operating income during the 2021 season, and it was $425 million.

NFL Revenue Streams in Numbers

• In 2019, the broadcasting rights revenue generated by the NFL alone was more than $4.5 billion.

• In 2022 and 2023, the annual value of the NFL TV broadcasting rights were estimated to reach $10 billion per season.
• In March 2021, the national media rights contract of the NFL amounted to more than $111 billion, and the 32 teams that compete in the league each collected $249 million during the 2022 season.
• In 2022, Amazon was granted the exclusive right to stream Thursday Night Football, and the struck deal was estimated to be worth around $1.2 billion. Just for comparison, ESPN and Disney’s deal to broadcast Monday Night Football was estimated to be worth $2.7 billion annually.

Super Bowl Statistics

The final game that puts the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) champions against each other attracts huge audiences and betting action from states where wagering on sports is legalized. The last game of the NFL season is a great attention-grabber and was played for the first time on January 15, 1967, after the 1966 season. Interestingly, the first-ever Super Bowl championship was won by the Green Bay Packers, who defeated the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Super Bowl was presented after a merger agreement was signed between the two football leagues that square off against each other, the American Football League and the National Football League.

• The most watched Super Bowl was the 2023 edition. The edition in which the Kansas City Chiefs appeared victorious against the Philadelphia Eagles attracted the attention of over 115 million viewers.
• According to estimates made by Forbes, in 2023, the average cost of a weekend trip to Phoenix for the Super Bowl was $8,726.
• The most popular program in the US of all time is the 2023 edition of the Super Bowl. It is followed by the Super Bowl edition that was aired in 2015, in which the Seattle Seahawks were defeated by the New England Patriots.
• The total number of advertisements that were shown during the 2020 Super Bowl broadcast was 70, and the total ad time was estimated to be 46 minutes.
• In 2022, the amount won on bets placed on the Super Bowl in the state of Nevada was approximately $15 million. Super Bowl winnings were at their highest in 2014 when they rose to nearly $20 million.
• Figures for 2023 show that the total amount punters have staked on the NFL at Nevada’s sportsbooks was over $150 million.
• The Super Bowl in 2019 was the edition of the annual playoff game with an exceptionally low rating, mainly due to claims of the NFL’s unjust treatment of Colin Kaepernick and his protest against police brutality.
• In 2023, some 40% of US households chose to watch the Super Bowl. These figures fall short of the household rating record from 1982 when the championship game was watched by more than 49% of households in the US.
• The bonus that was given to players whose team triumphed in the Super Bowl in 2023 was $157,000, which is an increase of $7,000 in comparison to 2022. Players from the losing team each collected $82,000.
• In 2022, the device NFL fans from the US preferred to use while watching the Super Bowl were televisions. According to a survey conducted that year, 59% of respondents said that they preferred to watch the Big Game on their TV, while those who said that they prefer to keep up with the action on their laptops were 13%.
• During a survey carried out in January 2023, the Super Bowl LVI’s halftime show in 2022 is the most enjoyed one. The share of respondents who said that this was their favorite halftime show was approximately 15%.
• It turns out that the National Football League is mainly popular with affluent Americans and figures show that the percentage of respondents who engage with the professional sports league and have a household income of $100k or more is around 70%.

How Much Do Consumers Spend on Super Bowl

• Figures show that in 2023, the total amount consumers have spent on the Super Bowl is $16.5 billion. When compared to consumer spending in 2022, this is an increase of almost $2 billion.
• In 2023, the average amount consumers from the US alone spent on Super Bowl-related purchases was approximately $85. For the most part, this money was spent on beverages and food, but it should also be mentioned that the money staked on the championship game are also included.
• The sponsor impact of the NFL is indeed substantial, and analysis shows that the percentage of people who said they are more inclined to buy a brand owing to its cooperation with the league is estimated to be 22%. The percentage of respondents who said that a brand’s partnership with the NFL will make them more favorable to it was around 19%.

NFL Teams with Most Super Bowl Wins

• The Green Bay Packers are the National Football team with the most overall championships as they have 13 titles.

NFL Teams Ranked According to Their Appearances in the Super Bowl

• The team that has appeared most times in the annual championship game is The New England Patriots. The team has made it to the championship game 11 times and has brought the trophy home six times. The New England Patriots are followed by the Denver Broncos, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Pittsburgh Steelers who each have appeared in the championship game eight times.

Spendings Related to the Super Bowl

• The average cost of a 30-second advertisement during the Super Bowl has been heavily on the rise during the past couple of years, and it reached its peak in 2023. During that Super Bowl edition, the price of a 30-second-long commercial was estimated to be $7 million.
• In 1993, the average price of a 30-second commercial was $850,000 and by 2016, it reached $5.4 million.
• An analysis conducted in 2022 shows that the total amount companies spent in-game advertisements during the play-off game was $578.4 million.
• According to figures presented by the National Retail Federation, in 2023, the total amount spent on food, decorations, apparel, drinks, and others on the day of the Super Bowl was $16.5 billion or approximately $85.36 per person.
• The most popular purchases during the Super Bowl in 2023 were drinks and food, and they accounted for 79% of the total amount spent. Team apparel and TV purchases came in second and third, with 12% and 10%, respectively. Decorations and furniture each accounted for 7% of all purchases made.
• A survey conducted in 2022 among US residents shows that the drink they prefer to consume during the Super Bowl is beer. By the time when the analysis was made, those who planned to serve or drink beer were approximately 41%. The second most popular drink was wine, and it was preferred by 12% of all viewers.
• In 2022, the Fan Cost Index was $590.

NFL Players Statistics and Facts

NFL-Related Awards

• The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award is a prestigious award that is given to players for their outstanding performance during the current season. The award was handed over for the first time in 1975 and up to this date, there are ten players who have received it more than once. As of March 2023, the legendary quarterback Peyton Manning has brought the award home five times. While playing for the Indianapolis Colts, Manning was given the award four times and got the prize once while playing for the Denver Broncos.
• In 2022, the NFL Honors were followed by slightly over 3 million people on the NFL Network and NBC.

NFL Player Salaries

• During the 2019/20 season, the Atlanta Falcons were the team that spent the most money on player salaries. Back then, the average amount first-team players received was $4.71 million. Here is a list of the first ten NFL teams that offered the highest annual average player salaries during that season. The Miami Dolphins was the team with the lowest average annual player salary in the 2019/20 season, and figures show that it was $2.05 million.

• Bill Belichick, who is often touted as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, is the highest-paid coach in the league. According to the available information, during the 2021 season, his annual salary was $12 million.
• In 2011, the minimum annual player salary was $375,000, and in 2019, the wager was increased to $500,000. As for the hard salary cap, the same year, it stood at $188.2 million. During the 2021 season, the minimum salary for players in the National Football League was $660,000 and was further increased to $705,000 the next year.
• As of 2022, the player with the highest salary in the National Football League was Ryan Tannehill who is a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. During that season he pocketed $38.6 million. Leonard Williams who plays for the New York Giants got the lowest salary of $27.3 million.
• The highest-paid NFL player during the 2022 season was Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The amount the quarterback brought home that year was $75 million, $30 of which came from bonuses and salary, while $45 million were generated by off-field endorsements. The runner-up Mathew Stafford brought home $65.5 million, just $4 million of which were produced by endorsements. In 2022, the player who ranked the lowest in terms of salary was Dak Prescott. While his salary was $20 million, his endorsements in 2022 were worth $13 million.
• In the 2021/2022 season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the team that had the highest player expenses. In that season, the team spent more than $304 million on player payroll.
• The National Football League player who has collected the most earnings during his career is Tom Brady. As of March 2023, his total career earnings were estimated to be worth $332.96 million. The players who rank second and third are both quarterbacks and while Aaron Rodgers’s total career earnings were $305.61 million, Matthew Stafford is reported to have collected $300.81 million.
• The NFL tops the list of leagues worldwide when it comes to the total wage spent. According to the available information, the NFL has paid out approximately $5.5 billion.

Average Career Length of NFL Players

NFL Attendance Statistics

• Figures show that the NFL has consistently been the professional sports league that attracts the biggest audiences, and it is estimated that in 2022, the average number of people who attended each game was almost 70 thousand people.
• During the 2022 season, the Dallas Cowboys was the team that marked the highest total attendance for eight home games during the regular season. The average number of people who attended the games in which the team played was 93,465.
• During the 2022 season, it was the Miami Dolphins who had the lowest attendance. The average attendance the team saw during the season was 6,623 people.
• The average total home attendance per NFL team during the 2022 season was estimated to be 588,088. These figures apply to the entire season.
• In 2022, the average ticket price across the NFL games was approximately $107.05.
• In 2020, the ticket sales for regular NFL games produced approximately 1.25% of its total revenue.
• In 2020, the revenue produced by the National Football League and team sponsorship was estimated to be worth $1.47 billion.
• The 2020 NFL season was thrown into chaos by the Coronavirus, and as a result, the attendance of regular season games saw a great decrease. According to the available data, attendance dipped to 2.37 million people.
• Even though multiple NFL games were postponed after the Coronavirus outbreak, all 256 regular season games were played.

NFL Average Per Game Attendance

NFL Viewers Numbers and Facts

The NFL is one of the most followed professional sports leagues in the US, and the number of people who are eager to see their favorite team and players in action is constantly on the rise. The National Football League is not only the major American league with the highest average attendance but also the league that makes millions of people flock to their TVs.

It is hardly a surprise that the Super Bowl is the most streamed event of the year, and the National Football League has inked broadcasts rights deals with FOX, NBC, and CBS, and the networks trade every three years.

Yet, NFL viewership and attendance also have their ups and downs, and the biggest slump was in 2020 when multiple games were played without the public as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Yet, Americans’ love for the NFL did not wane during the pandemic, and in 2021, the number of fans who choose to attend regular season games was also record-breaking.

• The National Football League is often described as one of the most valuable properties in American television as in 2022, the professional sports league accounted for 82 out of 100 of the most followed broadcasts.
• It is estimated that in 2022, the average television viewership the regular NFL season attracted was approximately 16.7 million people.
• A survey conducted by the National Retail Federation ahead of the 2023 season of the NFL, the number of people who said they will tune in on Sunday was estimated to be 192.9 million.
• The most-watched game of 2022 was the championship game between the Rams and Bengals. The game was aired on NBC and was watched by nearly 100 million people. The championship game was followed by the Championship game between the 49ers and the Rams as it attracted nearly two times fewer viewers on FOX.
• In 2022, the National Football League games held the most positions in the top 50 of the most-watched sporting events.
• The 2023 Super Bowl edition attracted over 113 million viewers, which made it the most-viewed championship game of all time. When Rihanna’s halftime show began, the number of viewers dropped to 123.5 million. The end of the game was followed by 113.6 million people, while the number of viewers who watched the trophy celebration was just 75.9 million.
• It was estimated that during the 2022/2023 season, the average viewership of regular season NFL games was 16.7 million.
• In 2023, the halftime show and the second quarter viewers saw an unexpected leap in the number of viewers as they were watched by around 124 million people.
• A 2023 survey found that around 15% of people said they intend to watch Super Bowl through streaming services. The share of people who said that they prefer to watch the championship game live on TV was considerably higher, as three in four people said that this is their preferred way to watch the final playoff game.
• A survey carried out in 2023 shows that almost 22 million people have chosen to watch Super Bowl using live streaming services. Just a year earlier, the streaming viewers were 17.9 million. That year, an average minute audience of six million viewers switched to streaming platforms to watch the Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals.
• Super Bowl LVII was followed by an average audience of 8.6 million viewers in Canada, a rise of nearly 6% when compared to the audiences The Big Game attracted in 2022.
• According to an analysis, which was made to check the opinion of NFL fans of Lady Gaga’s performance at the halftime show in 2017, more than 40% of respondents said that they approved of it.

NFL International Series Games

• From the 2007 season onwards, several NFL games took place outside the US, and these games are also known as the National Football League International Series. For the most part, these games are at the Twickenham Stadium and Wembley in London. When figures are concerned, the game that attracted the most viewers was the one in which the Jacksonville Jaguars played with the Denver Broncos in 2022. The game took place at Wembley Stadium and attracted 86,216 fans.
• The game that attracted the least attention was played between the Panthers and the Buccaneers and took place in 2019. The number of fans that flocked to watch the contest between the two teams was 60,087.
• A survey carried out in 2022 found that approximately 21% of NFL fans in the UK are between 18 and 29 years old.

Average Price of NFL Tickets

• In 2021, fans of Las Vegas Raiders needed to shell out a league-high average of almost $154. They were required to pay that amount to watch the team at the RingCentral Coliseum. In 2021, the Los Angeles Charges stood at the bottom of the table as the average amount fans were required to pay in order to watch a home game was $80.38.

NFL Stadiums

• In 2019, the average number of fans who attended each Rams regular season home game was 71,000. Thus, the total number of fans who flock to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum reached almost 500,000.

NFL Betting Statistics

Betting on sports has gone a long way since the federal ban on such activities was challenged by New Jersey in 2018, and the state became the first one to start offering this form of gambling. The states that have followed pace are already 29, and the District of Columbia is also on the list of territories where such activities can be offered. Due to legal challenges in Florida, wagering on sports in the state is currently in legal limbo.

As betting on sports is legalized in more and more states, it is only natural that the amount staked on the different events and leagues like the NFL is heavily on the rise. Here, we will provide more details about wagering on the league.

• An analysis made in February 2023 shows that the percentage of adults who said they would definitely make a wager on the Super Bowl was 10%. Those who said they would probably place a bet on the Big Game were 11%, while the share of respondents who were adamant that they would not wager on the game was 59%. The respondents who were still unsure whether they will bet on the 2023 edition of the Super Bowl were 8%.
• According to the data collected in November 2022 regarding the amounts wagered on the NFL in the states where sports betting is legalized, the NFL postseason and return of the regular season were the periods when the betting action intensified. During the postseason, the monthly total wagered amount reached $9.5 billion, while the staked amounts in October totaled $8.9 billion. The NCAA’s annual March Madness competition was able to measure up against the appeal of the football league as the staked amount reached $8.9 billion.
• According to forecasts made prior to the 2023 season, the percentage of adults who said they would place bets on the Super Bowl through online platforms was 38%.
• At the beginning of 2023, the share of people who said that the amount they would stake on the Super Bowl would be between $1 and $25 or $51 to $100 was 9.75%.
• According to the available data, the portion of winning bets placed on the Super Bowl in Nevada in 2023 was 7.4%.
• According to figures presented by the location authenticating firm GeoComply, the number of sports bets that were tracked over Super Bowl weekend exceeded 100 million. In comparison with the same period last year, this is a 25% increase.
• In 2023, the amount of money that was projected to be staked on the Big Game from the state of Arizona alone was $700 million.
• A survey conducted at the beginning of 2023 found that most NFL fans from the US who are likely to bet on the games prefer to do this with their friends or family (10%). Those who said they would bet on the games through an online or mobile sportsbook were approximately 9%.
• The total amount estimated to be wagered ahead of the Super Bowl was $16 billion, which is a two-time increase in comparison with the previous year.

Mobile NFL Betting

• A survey carried out in 2022 found that watching sports and betting on them is directly connected. Approximately two-thirds of respondents said that they watch NFL games when they have placed bets on these events.

• According to data collected in October 2022, the engagement of wagering on the National Football League increases with age among respondents. The share of respondents aged 41-57 who said they placed bets on the NFL last month was 84%. The pull of NFL betting on the move turned out to be exceptionally strong also among respondents who are aged 26-40. The percentage of mobile gamblers among them was 82%. Gen Z respondents turned out to be less inclined to bet on the NFL while being out and about as those who placed bets on the league in the last month were around 69%.
• A survey published by Variety shows that a large percentage of sports bettors who keep up with the NFL also make wagers on the football league. The percentage of NFL fans who are also bettors exceeded 70%. Those who said that they are fans but do not place bets were 6%, while the percentage of respondents who said they are fans but do not bet on the NFL that frequently was 9%. When compared to other leagues, the percentage of respondents who said they were not fans of the sport at all was the lowest and stood at 13%.

The NFL and the Coronavirus Pandemic

• According to a survey that was carried out at the beginning of 2020, around 70% of respondents said that the NFL should be kicked off.
• By a 46% to 36% margin, respondents thought that the NFL season should not kick off on time in 2020.
• The team that was expected to lose the most money from ticket sales was the New England Patriots. According to an analysis made in 2020, the team was expected to see losses of $376.54 million because of postponed games.
• As of August 2020, a survey conducted in the US found that the share of respondents who thought that the season should be played and those who believed that it must be canceled was the same, and was estimated to be 23%. The share of respondents who considered that the season must be postponed was slightly higher and stood at 29%. Those who said that they have no opinion or cannot decide were 24%.
• Estimates made in 2020 suggested that the NFL clubs might lose approximately $100 million if no fans were allowed to go to the stadiums.