Each National Football League team received $296 million from the league’s revenue share, up 7.9% from last year, according to the Green Bay Packers financial report. The Packers are the lone publicly-owned team and need to report earnings, providing a rare glimpse into what are normally secretive NFL team financials.
A majority of the $9.44 billion the 32 NFL teams share comes from the league’s national media rights deals. All of the NFL’s major deals are up for negotiation in 2022, and the expectation is they may double in value as major media companies look to lock up perhaps the top performing television property – NFL games accounted for 47 of the top 50 most-watched programs on U.S. TV in 2019.
Fifty-eight percent of the Packers’ revenue came from that league share. It also made $211 million from local deals, and its $506.9 million in total revenue was good for ninth-most in the league, according to President and CEO Mark Murphy
Without game day revenues from fans in stadiums, it’s uncertain how badly team bottom lines will suffer. For the Packers specifically, it doesn’t look too dire. With $411 million in a reserve fund, the Packers could weather a season with limited fans at games better than other franchises – the team said Lambeau Field could welcome up to 12,000 fans this season. Murphy said that the share of revenue from the league would cover the cost of the team’s players, meaning how many fans are allowed wouldn’t be based on the bottom line.
