NFL team sponsorship revenue has hit $2.35 billion, a 15% increase from $2.05 billion last season, according to data from SponsorUnited’s NFL Marketing Partnerships 2023 Report. The surge in revenue was driven by spending growth in the ticketing, healthcare, gaming and automotive categories.
Nike leads among brands in athlete endorsement deals with 36 such arrangements, followed by EA's Madden Series with 31 player deals, Verizon with 30 and Procter & Gamble's Bounty with 26. The four playoff teams earned over $250 million in sponsorship revenue.
"While the Dallas Cowboys continued their 15+ year run in leading overall team sponsorship revenues, the largest year-over-year percentage growth came from the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Denver Broncos,” said Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of SponsorUnited in a press release.
Individual stardom has also helped to propel NFL sponsorship revenue. Travis Kelce and Isaac Rochell have both been able to leverage their personal branding to rack up 25 or more brand deals.
In a reflection of the NFL’s appeal for sponsors, spending by the top 10 categories combined surpassed the sponsorship revenues of the MLB as well as of the NHL, MLS and NBA.
The ticketing, healthcare, gaming and automotive categories accounted for over half the sponsorship growth of the top 10 brand categories. Energy drinks make up the fastest growing subcategory with a 400% increase in deals, followed by the Armed Forces at 333%, the government, including tourism board activations, at 57% and apparel & accessory at 48%.
