National Football League (NFL)

What it is

The National Football League is a 32-team professional American football league headquartered in New York City. It operates as a single entity for collective bargaining and the pooled sale of national media rights, with each franchise receiving an equal share of that national pool regardless of market size. Its annual championship, the Super Bowl, is the most-watched single-game sporting event in the United States, drawing over 100 million US viewers. Roger Goodell has served as commissioner since September 2006, succeeding Paul Tagliabue.

History

The league was founded in Canton, Ohio in August 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and renamed the NFL in 1922. The rival American Football League (AFL), founded in 1960, merged into the NFL in 1970, creating the 26-team structure that eventually expanded to 32. The first Super Bowl was played in January 1967, pitting the NFL champion Green Bay Packers against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs. The 1961 US Sports Broadcasting Act gave the NFL authority to pool television rights collectively, establishing the legal and financial model that now distributes hundreds of millions of dollars equally to every franchise each year.

Current state

The NFL generated over US$23 billion in revenue during the 2024 financial year. Each of the 32 franchises received US$416 million in national revenue sharing, an 8.9% increase on the prior year, drawn from broadcast, sponsorship, and licensing income. Goodell has set a target of US$25 billion in annual revenue by 2027, up from US$8 billion in 2010. The current US media rights cycle runs through the 2033 season and involves CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon Prime Video, with supplemental deals covering Netflix and YouTube TV. As of mid-2026, the average franchise value stands at US$7.65 billion; the Dallas Cowboys are valued at US$12.5 billion, the first franchise in US professional sport to exceed US$12 billion. In August 2024, owners voted 31-1 to allow vetted private equity firms to acquire passive, non-voting stakes of up to 10% in individual teams, a historic structural change first taken up by the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. The 2026 season features a record nine international regular-season games across four continents, with inaugural fixtures in Melbourne (Australia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Paris (France).

Relationships

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is the players' labor union; the current collective bargaining agreement runs through 2030. National media partners, including ESPN, CBS, and Amazon, account for the majority of team revenues and exert structural influence over the schedule. Private equity firms, notably Arctos Partners, Ares Management, and KKR, have entered as passive minority investors since the 2024 rule change. Municipalities and stadium authorities are recurring political counterparties: most NFL stadium construction projects since 2000 have involved significant public financing. The Jacksonville Jaguars hold a long-term "home game" hosting arrangement at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London as part of the league's international growth plan.

What to watch

The NFL is weighing an expansion from 17 to 18 regular-season games, a change that requires NFLPA agreement and is constrained by the CBA running to 2030. The league is developing a professional flag football circuit aligned with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where flag football will debut as a medal sport. Commissioner Goodell has publicly targeted 16 international games per season, requiring permanent hosting infrastructure in multiple markets. The private equity ownership ceiling of 10% may rise as firms lobby for expanded rights. Any league expansion beyond 32 franchises requires a supermajority owner vote and a host city willing to finance a stadium.