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NFL Avoids Crypto Winter, Collects Record Amount In Sponsorship Fees

Despite big-name defections, the NFL saw a 4% increase in 2022 sponsorships to an estimated $1.88 billion, according to sports valuation firm IEG.


How high is the National Football League cruising these days? It weathered the defections of big-name brands like Barclays, Bridgestone, Ford trucks and Pizza Hut and still managed to post a record amount of sponsorships this past season.

The league also avoided relationships with cryptocurrency partners, a liability for the National Basketball Association after the near-collapse last year of the crypto market. NFL sponsor revenue hit $1.88 billion, a 4% increase from the year previous, sports consultancy firm IEG said Monday.

Revenue growth slowed, however, after increasing 12% between 2020 and 2021. Still, the NFL still sits atop all U.S. sports leagues in annual sponsorship money. Major League Baseball pulled in about $1.8 billion in 2022, and IEG estimates the National Basketball Association collected about $1.6 billion. Last June, Forbes reported the National Hockey League broke the $1 billion mark in sponsorship revenue. IEG only calculates right fees tied to the league and its clubs, and excludes TV ad buys around NFL games.

NFL clubs split league-generated income, reportedly about $18 billion. Most of the money comes from national media income, which pays teams over $300 million each. Sponsorship money makes up 10% of NFL revenue, according to Forbes data. The NFL says it wants to reach annual revenue of $25 billion by 2027.

Sponsorship is increasing as the league has been successful in attracting public attention more than any other sport. One-third of Americans are expected to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl, which pits the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, and features billionaire pop star Rihanna performing at halftime.

IEG managing director Peter Laatz said in a statement that the NFL’s “methodical, conservative approach to sponsorship” helped the league dodge the cryptocurrency “debacle” after top crypto platform FTX filed for bankruptcy and deals with teams went kablooey. FTX’s failure could result in hundreds of millions of losses, especially for NBA teams.

NFL clubs are prohibited from promoting digital currencies, though the league does allow sponsorship agreements around blockchain, the technology used by crypto exchanges. There are 15 blockchain-related deals with NFL teams, and 11 pacts are with a digital platform called Socios. Also, clubs have deals with NFT-maker Dapper Labs and platform Grayscale Investments.

IEG is a sports marketing company owned by private equity firm Bruin Capital, which has about $1 billion in assets under management, according to PitchBook.

In 2022, the NFL lost a key sponsor in Bose, which left the league’s game headsets without logos this season. The NFL did pick up E&J Gallo for its wine sponsorship, while Apple
AAPL
replaced Pepsi as the Super Bowl halftime sponsor. IEG counts 53 active league-level sponsors, and technology companies top the list with 34 new deals. The NFL added cybersecurity company Acronis, HCL Technologies and Amazon Web Services to its list of sponsors.

Betting and lottery, beer, telecommunications and insurance comprise the top five most-active sponsorship categories. Bottled water, coffee and tea companies increased activity the most. IEG predicts that seltzer brands will increase ad spend in 2023.

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