Sports leagues are made of gold. The 14 largest sports leagues generate revenues of $80.6 billion a yearan amount that represents a growth of 22% since the Covid crisis, in which 66.2 billion dollars were entered, according to data from one of the reports carried out by Sports Value. Global turnover rises, up to 97.6 billion if other events such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup organized by Fifa are included.
United States competitions lead the revenue tablewith one of the largest leagues in the world, the National Football League (NFL), with 13.2 billion dollars; followed by Major League Baseball (MLB), with profits of 11.6 billion dollars and the National Basketball Association (NBA), with 10.6 billion dollars.
Among the five best, there is only one European reference, the Premier Leaguein fourth place, earning 7.6 billion dollars, followed by the National Hockey League (NHL), which makes profits of around 6.4 billion dollars.
The income of the largest sports leagues has grown by 22% since Covid-19
The other European leagues are behind the NHL. The Bundesliga, in sixth place, earns 4.1 billion. Just behind is LaLiga, with profits of 3.8 billion. Between these competitions, depending on the criteria of each measurement, they rotate the position, so, on occasion, LaLiga has been considered the second most powerful league in Europe.
After the Spanish football competition comes the Champions League, which obtains income of 3.5 billion eurosfollowed by Serie A, with 2.6 billion. In the last positions are Formula 1 (F1), with a turnover of 3.2 billion; the Major League Soccer (MLS), with profits of 2.00 million dollars and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), with income of 1.3 billion.
In his studio, Sports Value concludes that “The leagues maintain their participation in the general total globally; some grew in participation over the total, such as the NBA, F1 and the UFC and others lost importance, such as the MLB and Serie A in Brazil.”
