The National Football League is in a great spot financially with their media rights and merchandise deals. The Minnesota Vikings and the other 31 teams reap the benefits and it keeps getting better.
According to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, the Vikings and the other 31 NFL franchises were each cut a check for $404 million due from revenue accrued during the 2023 season. That number is approximately $150 million higher than the 2024 salary cap.
Badenhauser explains how the revenue is generated, which comes from the following:
- Media rights
- League sponsorships
- Shared revenue and royalties from various affiliates and subsidiaries
The number each team received was approximately $30 million higher than what they received for the 2022 season, which is an 8% increase in revenue. It’s worth noting that the article does reference four different figures that teams provided to them. Badenhausen settled on $404 million for his reference point.
The one thing that will allow us to know for sure is the Green Bay Packers. Being that the city of Green Bay owns the team, we get to see their financial reports once that gets released to the public.
Seeing figures like this will help as the league recently lost an antitrust lawsuit regarding NFL Sunday Ticket which would cost each team $449 million. If that ruling stands, the increased revenue will help massively offset that cost.
Revenue continues to go up and the Vikings may get rewarded even further in 2025 and beyond, potentially reaching $500 million by 2026.