Like it or not, U.S. is the main character in global sports right now – theScore.com

US sports dominance: American leagues, athletes drive global revenue and viewership in 2024

James Okafor | GlobalBeat

American professional sports generated more than $73 billion in 2023 and attracted record international audiences, cementing the United States as the dominant commercial force in global sport.

The National Football League alone booked $18.6 billion in revenue last season, while the National Basketball Association signed $76 billion in media rights extensions last month, according to league filings and company statements.

The scale of U.S. operations now sets the benchmark for salaries, broadcast contracts, and streaming packages worldwide. European soccer clubs, the Asian Baseball League, and the Australian Football League all track American revenue multiples when negotiating deals, sports finance analysts told GlobalBeat.

The NFL earned $18.6 billion in 2023, up 8% from 2022, the league disclosed in March. NBA revenue reached $13 billion, while Major League Baseball posted $11.8 billion, league offices confirmed. Combined, the three leagues outgrossed the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and Italy’s Serie A by $37 billion, according to consultancy Deloitte.

Broadcasters paid the leagues $19.4 billion in domestic fees last year, consultancy PwC reported. International sales added another $2.8 billion, driven by NFL Sunday Ticket in 190 countries and NBA League Pass in 215 territories, league executives said on earnings calls.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told analysts the league expects revenue to top $16 billion by 2026, fueled by a new $76 billion rights package with Disney, Comcast, and Amazon signed in July. The deal pays the NBA $6.9 billion annually starting in 2025, triple the current rate.

European soccer executives monitor U.S. growth when setting their own targets. “We benchmark NBA and NFL numbers in every commercial presentation,” Andrea Berta, Atletico Madrid’s chief executive, told Spanish radio in May. La Liga projects $5.1 billion in 2024 revenue, less than half the NBA’s total, league president Javier Tebas repeated last week.

U.S. athlete salaries pull talent from other continents. The average NBA paycheck reached $9.5 million in 2023, the players union confirmed. Premier League soccer averaged $4.7 million, FIFA data showed. MLB’s mean salary hit $4.9 million, the league said, while NFL veterans averaged $2.8 million.

Agents trace the gap to American salary-cap rules that guarantee players roughly 48% of league revenue, figures the unions publish. “A rookie bench player in the NBA can earn triple what a top cricketer makes,” London-based agent Jonathan Barnett told GlobalBeat. Cricket’s Indian Premier League paid an average $1.2 million last season, the league confirmed.

Corporate America funnels sponsorship dollars back into domestic sport. PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch, and General Motors each spent more than $300 million on U.S. league sponsorships in 2023, regulatory filings showed. Nike paid $1.1 billion to extend NFL apparel rights through 2028, the company disclosed in April.

Amazon, Apple, and Google invested more than $8 billion combined for streaming rights to Thursday Night Football, Friday Night Baseball, and select NBA games, public filings revealed. “No other market commands these numbers,” Claire Enders of Enders Analysis told reporters in June. “The Premier League’s biggest domestic package is $2.1 billion over three years.”

Women’s sport follows the same pattern. The WNBA projects $200 million in revenue for 2024, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said this month. That figure beats England’s Women’s Super League, which turned over £32 million last year, the FA reported. WNBA athletes averaged $113,000 in base salary, five times the WSL’s £21,000 average, England’s players union calculated.

The U.S. Women’s National Team soccer deal with USSF guarantees equal prize money to the men, a policy no European federation has matched, FIFA confirmed. Nike’s 11-year kit contract with the USSF, worth $57 million according to court filings, remains the largest women’s national-team apparel deal on record.

International investors buy minority stakes to access American revenue growth. Silver Lake paid $500 million for a 10% share of UFC parent TKO Group in 2023, regulatory filings showed. Qatar Investment Authority acquired a 5% stake in Monumental Sports, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Capitals, for $200 million in April.

Private-equity firms now hold shares in 16 NBA franchises, data from PitchBook revealed. “These are trophy assets that throw off cash,” sports banker Galatioto Sports Partners wrote to clients in February. “European clubs can’t match the risk-adjusted return.”

U.S. tech firms integrate betting, ticketing, and merchandise into single apps. DraftKings handled $9.7 billion in sports wagers in 2023, the company announced. Fanatics sells official jerseys plus game tickets and NFTs through one platform valued at $31 billion, CEO Michael Rubin told investors.

European regulators block similar integration. Italy banned betting sponsorships in 2019, cutting Serie A revenue by €110 million, the league reported. Germany caps gambling ads on television before 11 p.m., restrictions that cost Bundesliga clubs €70 million last season, consultancy KPMG estimated.

Background

American professional sport operated largely inside domestic borders until the 1992 Olympics launched the Basketball Dream Team. NBA ratings jumped 20% that summer, league archives show, prompting franchises to schedule regular-season games in Japan, Mexico, and Britain starting in 1990.

The NFL played its first regular-season contest outside the United States in 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals hosted the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City before 103,000 fans, a stadium record that still stands. The league now stages 5 games annually in London and 1 in Germany, selling out every ticket since 2013.

Baseball’s inclusion in the 2020 Olympics and softball’s return this summer intensified Major League Baseball’s international push. MLB staged opening-weekend series in Tokyo, Seoul, and Mexico City in 2024, with league officials estimating $35 million in local revenue per city.

What’s Next

The NBA hosts a two-game preseason series in the United Arab Emirates this October, followed by the league’s inaugural in-season tournament final in Las Vegas on December 14. NFL owners will vote in March on adding a 17th regular-season game, a change that could raise salary-cap room by $15 million per club, executives told owners meetings in May.