Most conventional sports are huge earners at the competitive level. NBA basketball, FIFA soccer, tennis tournaments and NFL football. These sports bring in millions a year to the sport overall and also to the individual athletes. Some of this revenue comes from sponsorships, some from salaries and contracts, and the rest from the fans.
If you’re a massive fan of ice hockey and your favorite player is Patrick Kane, you might want to purchase his team jersey to wear to games. You might buy a New York Rangers scarf and hat, a coozie or a travel mug with his number or face. If he writes a newsletter, you might pay to subscribe to it to know what’s going on in his career. Now take a second to think about how many hockey fans love Kane more than any other player and support the Giants. That’s a lot of fans and a lot of money from small purchases from each fan that can add up to a fortune. If you’re a sports fan, there’s every reason to learn more about sports bets and maybe win a little something for yourself. The athletes certainly do well!
If you’re curious, we know a little something about the sports whose fans contribute the most to their revenue. Let’s take a look.
Nippon Professional Baseball
It is a universally recognized fact that Japanese people go big or go home when it comes to things they love. Anime, Idols and sports rank high on their “most loved” lists, baseball in particular. This year marks the 74th season of the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan. The season begins at the end of every March and ends at the beginning of November. The amount of memorabilia purchased by Japanese baseball fans every year is almost unbelievable. As of 2020, the Nippon Professional League was bringing in 1.1 billion US dollars a year.
Serie A Italian Football League
When we say football, we mean what Americans refer to as soccer. Whatever you call it, soccer is undoubtedly one of the sports that bring in the most money in general and from its fans in any given year. There are games to be watched in person, team memorabilia like jerseys, mugs and even car decals to be purchased, and fans of the Italian league go all in. Serie A is a real surprise as it had barely turned a profit before 2019, and then it shot straight onto the list of top-earning sports in the world the following year. Revenue of 1.9 billion US in one year is nothing to sneeze at, after all. Fans of sports betting love to lay wagers on their favorite Serie A teams and players too!
NHL (National Hockey League)
Ice hockey is well supported all over the world, but the American fans of the NHL are simply on another level. According to Forbes magazine, American ice hockey generates more money every year than the previous year. In total, for the 2021-22 season, the NHL league generated revenue in the region of 6.1 billion US dollars. Fans turn out to watch live hockey matches in droves and are happy to pay whatever the charge to see their favorite teams and players in action.
NBA (National Basketball Association)
The NBA has to be one of the sports divisions where athletes find the most brand deals. Cereal, shoes, clothing lines, sports drinks, you name it. NBA players fans will line up at the release of any new product to be sure they get their hands on it before any of their friends! Last year, the NBA raked in around $10 billion in revenue, which marked a significant increase from the previous two years. No one could forget the foray of several NBA stars (Michael Jordan included) into films when Space Jam was released in 1996 and the many product spinoffs from the collaboration. The same thing happened with the more recent Space Jam film release, and fans were overjoyed.
English Premier League Football
The English Premier League is the jewel in the crown of worldwide football. Fans are beyond committed to their favorite teams and players, as the many incidents of football hooliganism have shown. There are many positive ways to show your commitment to your team, though, like sponsoring young players and purchasing team merchandise, which EPL fans do as often as they can.
NFL (National Football League)
Though American football is now being played in many more places than it used to, there’s no question that the elites in this sport play in the NFL. The sheer number of activities that NFL fans participate in is ever mounting: Superbowl parties, tailgate parties, subscription services to watch games remotely and season tickets to watch games in person. And then there are the autographed balls and helmets, the jerseys, the shoes and even edible collaborations. NFL fans are genuinely devoted to the sport, which brought in 2.7 billion US dollars last year.
Wrap Up
Sports fans love to love their sports. Clearly, their devotion goes far beyond just watching the actual sport, and their collections bring them joy for years. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by the thing they love most?
