By: Jimmy Somerville
As you may know, the NFL season is back and in action even with the coronavirus. But there is a catch – there are either no fans allowed or very few allowed.
And the NFL is a business at the end of the day, whether you think of it as a business or not, so their goal is to make a profit (money).
So, since they aren’t allowed to have fans, or some teams will allow a maximum of ten thousands fans, where the average NFL stadium can fill up around 70,000 fans, how is the NFL still going to make money, and are they going to be in financial trouble?
The answer is the NFL would lose around 15.47% of their profit if they did not allow one single fan to buy a ticket. Because, in 2018, the NFL made up 15.47% of their profit by selling tickets. So, assuming the 2020 data would be similar to the 2018 data, the NFL would lose around 15% of their profit.
Now, 30 years ago, ticket sales would probably make up around 50% of the NFL’s profit because now, there is more advanced technology where the NFL can sell jerseys and other fan apparel online.
Losing 15% of profit can hurt, but the NFL made 15 billion dollars in 2019, so they will be just fine, and remember, they can still bring in some fans, so they will probably lose around 12% of profit, which is more than noticeable, but won’t hurt them too badly in the long run.
So, to answer my final question, the NFL will still make around roughly 88% of the profit they would’ve made without the coronavirus, this season, by having their games televised with expensive TV deals. And, like I said earlier, they also make money by selling jerseys and other fan apparel. In 2015 the NFL made more than 50% revenue from just TV deals. So the NFL will be fine.
-Jimmy Somerville
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