Elite Sport Revenue

The management of the sport revenue has evolved over time as consumption of sport has changed. Historically, the main driver of revenue was attendance and the ticket sales that provided. Now, however, the majority of revenue for elite sport is from broadcast partners. At the upper echelons of sport, from international competition, to prominent professional leagues to NCAA Division I athletics, the ability to distribute content via broadcasts is the dominant revenue driver. Since many sport federations, governing bodies and some organizations are non-profits, it is possible to collect financial information. Using this information can help understand the flow of money into elite sport. The chart organizes total revenue and the contribution made by broadcasting, corporate partnership and tickets. Since there is no standard for reporting, it is not possible to isolate contributions from each aspect for some organizations and they use different names when referring to similar sources. However, in aggregate a picture emerges whereby at least 50% of revenue comes in from broadcast partners. For the Packers, the national income is their distribution from NFL league generated revenue, which is dominated by broadcast and partnership contracts. Their 60/40 split of National to Local revenue is also a good rule of thumb for franchises in terms of their revenue. Larger markets will have a higher percent of local revenue, but smaller markets will have a lower percent of local revenue.

Since broadcasting is the business of sport, leagues monitor their viewership and distribution to their fans. As viewership, and popularity increases, so does the ability for rights holders to negotiate for higher contracts. As teams/leagues/federations create more content, they can negotiate for higher contracts. The entrance of additional partners (Apple, Amazon, etc.) increases the competition for content and can also lead to higher contracts. Understanding this landscape provides decision making opportunities when looking to grow a sport, reach fan segments, develop partnerships and create consumable content.