Despite declining television ratings, the NFL brought in more money than ever before through its broadcast deals in 2017.
Each of the league’s 32 teams took in $255 million in national revenues last year, which translates to $8.16 billion across the league. That’s an increase of 4.9 percent from 2016, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.
National revenue comes from the league’s TV deals with NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN and DirecTV, as well as licensing and merchandise revenues. That money is split evenly among the 32 teams. Last year was the first time national revenue topped $8 billion.
For 2018, national revenue should be up again, as FOX will be paying significantly more for Thursday night games this year than NBC and CBS paid to split the package last year. A sustained decline in the league’s TV ratings could eventually cause the league’s revenues to decline, but that’s highly unlikely to happen before 2022, when the current TV deals expire.
Although national revenue represents the bulk of the money that NFL teams make, local revenues are significant as well. The Packers’ books show the team brought in just under $200 million in local revenue.