The National Football League (NFL) is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America. It has grown into one of the highest-earning professional sports leagues in the world. The highest level of professional American football is played at this stage and watched by people all over the country.
NFL football has a mass following all over the country, with millions of sports fanatics tuning in for every NFL game. Here’s everything you need to know about America’s most loved and most watched sport—football.
History of the NFL
The National Football League (NFL) was formed in 1920 to raise the standard of professional football in the country. It was known as the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), with its name being changed to the National Football League (NFL) in 1922.
Although the NFL was the largest American football league in the country, it wasn’t without competition. Several other football leagues emerged over the years, challenging NFL’s monopoly over the sport. These include the All America Football Conference (AAFC), three American Football Leagues (AFL), and the fourth American Football League, which was the biggest rival to the NFL. It, however, ended up merging with the NFL in 1970.
Before the merger, four Super Bowl championships took place, of which the NFL won two, and the AFL won the other two, indicating how tough of a competition AFL was giving the NFL all those years.
About the NFL
The NFL currently has 32 teams divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFC consists of mostly the pre-merger NFL teams, while the AFC consists of the pre-merger AFL teams.
The regular season starts in September and ends in January, lasting 17 weeks, but this NFL 2021-22 season will go on for a total of 18 weeks, with each team playing 17 games and having a bye week. It is historic, being dubbed as the “biggest NFL season ever.” After the season ends, seven teams from both the conferences advance into the playoffs, and two teams qualify for the final match of the tournament, known as the Super Bowl.
Net Worth of the NFL
The NFL is one of the most lucrative sports leagues in the world. It primarily earns revenue through three main mediums: ticket sales, merchandising, and television broadcast rights. With the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic seen on sporting events globally, NFL annual revenue dropped from $16 billion in 2019 to $12 billion in 2020. This is largely because of the live audience not being allowed to attend games, causing drastic losses in ticket and merchandise sales.
But despite these losses, the overall values for the teams in NFL have risen, with four major league football teams having a net worth of over $4 billion. The Dallas Cowboys are number one on the list, with a net worth of over $5.7 billion in 2020.
Other teams worth over $4 billion include the New England Patriots worth $4.4 billion, the New York Giants worth $4.3 billion, and the Los Angeles Rams worth $4 billion, showcasing football’s unrivaled ability to deliver profits.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is played between the champion teams of the AFC and NFC. It is the most-watched event of the year annually in America. The 2015 Super Bowl match between Seattle Seahawks and The Patriots was the most-watched program in US television history, with 114.4 million people tuning in on NBC.
The Super Bowl half-time show sponsored by Pepsi is also highly anticipated, with some of the biggest celebrities in the entertainment industry vying for the opportunity to perform there. Previous performers include Michael Jackson, Prince, Paul McCartney, Beyonce, Madonna, Coldplay, and more. The 2015 Super Bowl half-time show performance by Katy Perry was watched by 118.5 million people, more than the Super Bowl game itself, creating a new record for US broadcast history.
The championship game is also one of the largest events for sports betting globally, being watched and handicapped by hundreds of thousands of sports fanatics all over the United States. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), the Super Bowl LV game played between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers had almost 23.2 million people betting on it.
This was a feat considering this year’s Super Bowl recorded the lowest viewership for the game since 2007, with just 91.6 million people tuning in on CBS. Despite the odds stacked against it, Super Bowl predictions during the championship did remarkably.
Popular Teams of the NFL
Like most sports, the NFL also has certain teams that are fan favorites because of their past legacy, star players, or distinct play style. Some of the most favored NFL teams among fans include the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots, and the Green Bay Packers.
But just because a team is a crowd favorite doesn’t mean that they’re at the top of the game. None of the teams mentioned above are critic favorites for this season’s Super Bowl championship game.
Statistically strong teams at the moment include the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the San Francisco 49-ers, all three of which have been either the winners of the Super Bowl or finalists in the last two years. They also have star players like Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, who are in excellent condition.
Making Money from The NFL
Football is a fun sport to watch and a lucrative venture to invest in by betting on it. Football betting is highly interesting. You can make easy money while watching something you enjoy. According to a survey in 2019, 61 percent of respondents who claimed to be sports fans stated that they would bet on the NFL. This makes it the top sports league that sports fans in the US would bet on.
The sports betting industry is growing, and legal betting is becoming a trend in many countries, with most US states having legalized it. Football is the ultimate sport to try your luck on.
If you wish to invest in football and are an amateur bettor, it’s always better to consult an expert like the ones at Charlie’s Sports before making a bet. Their expert sports handicappers have years of experience in the sports betting industry and can guide you better than anyone about the do’s and don’ts of sports betting.
Some of the games they offer stakes for include Major League Baseball predictions, NCAA Basketball March Madness prediction, NFL playoff predictions, and horseracing picks, among others.