By Harrison Leone
Sports Assignment Editor
Last Sunday, after a long weekend of unfulfilled goals and compromised aspirations, I unwound in front of the TV, listening to the not-so-soothing sounds of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck call game four of the World Series.
The Red Sox stepped to bat in the top of the third inning when Buck mentioned the Cowboys-Lions game that had ended in thrilling fashion several hours earlier. McCarver, being characteristically out of the loop, went on to inquire about the game, and the two entered into a five-minute discussion, ignoring the action on the field entirely.
The conclusion of the game was admittedly worthy of mention, and, as it was broadcast on Fox, I’m sure Buck was partially interested in giving his network a plug. The fact that this particular football game, played in the midseason with no immediate playoff implications, overshadowed the World Series and reminded all the viewers that, for better or for worse, the sports world is in the Age of NFL.
The NFL has become the unrivaled hegemon of the American sports landscape. The league leads professional sports in attendance, TV contracts and viewers. Turn on ESPN at any given time of the day, and you’re never too far from some sort of football analysis, whether it is their hourly Jets update, Mike and Mike ruining your morning or Skip Bayless hollering to no one about nothing in particular
In addition to ESPN, the NFL has television deals with CBS, NBC and FOX, who pay a combined $20 billion for the rights to air the league’s contests. Following the 2013 season, these same four networks will see their tab nearly double to just shy of $40 billion for the rights to the next decade of games. The coffers of the NFL are ensured to stay comfortably lined for the foreseeable future.
According to Forbes Magazine, every one of the NFL’s 32 franchises — even the illustrious Jaguars — rank among the 50 most valuable in the world, led by “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys, who come in tied for third globally at $1.85 billion. Joining Dallas among the top 10 global franchises are the Redskins (fifth), Patriots (sixth) and Giants (ninth), which means that in one of the NFL’s most lackluster divisions — the NFC East — there is 30 percent of the 10 most valuable teams on earth.
The Super Bowl has been appointment television since it first aired in 1967, but it has pushed the Nielsen Ratings into the stratosphere in recent years. Last season’s Super Bowl XLVII marked the fourth consecutive year of more than 100 million viewers. The game’s 108 million-strong audience was somehow a drop-off from Super Bowl XLVI and was the first time since 2004 that the league did not see an increase in viewers from the previous season.
Not content with its staggering domestic market dominance, the NFL has looked abroad to expand its global brand. The International Series, which began in 2007 with the Giants and Dolphins playing at London’s Wembley Stadium, will continue at least until the 2016 season. The Londoners turn out to this event in droves regardless of the quality of the teams in play, as the recent contest between the 49ers and winless Jaguars was sold out months in advance.
Other foreign adventures for the league have included the 49ers-Cardinals matchup in Mexico City in 2005 and the yearly Bills game played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Roger Goodell and other top NFL brass seem intent on transforming the NFL into an international spectacle.
Around-the-clock coverage, colossal revenues and an aggressive policy of foreign expansion characterize the NFL’s unrivaled popularity. The league has already won the first decade of the 21st century and shows no signs of halting its meteoric rise.
While sports fandom does not have to be a zero-sum game, it is hard not to imagine that the NFL’s continued gains in popularity come at the expense of other professional leagues that it has muscled out of the spotlight.
Harrison Leone is the sports assignment editor of the Bona Venture. His email is leonehj11@bonaventure.edu.
