The National Football League comprises 32 teams from across the United States competing in two conferences split roughly by region. The NFL is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States, with televised games attracting millions of viewers each week. A January 2025 survey found that 24 percent of women in the U.S. considered the NFL to be their top interest. Meanwhile, the share of American men who considered the NFL their top interest was 36 percent.
The National Football League comprises 32 teams from across the United States competing in two conferences split roughly by region. The NFL is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States, with televised games attracting millions of viewers each week. This survey depicts the level of interest in the NFL in the United States, and it showed that 42 percent of Black respondents were avid fans of the NFL as of April 2023.
There are millions of sports fans across the United States, from those religiously following an NFL team to avid tennis fans or those who watch every Formula One Grand Prix. During an April 2023 survey in the United States, 44 percent of male respondents stated that they were avid sports fans. Meanwhile, this figure was just 15 percent among female respondents.
National Football League fans in the U.S.
Football is a widely enjoyed sport in the United States, as is evident from the millions of fans who tune in to watch their favorite teams compete every Monday night. The sport enjoys a diverse viewer demographic, with more than two thirds of white, Hispanic, and Black participants in an online survey identifying as either an avid or casual fan of football in January 2023. The survey also investigated the level of interest in the NFL in the U.S. broken down by gender, with a significantly larger share of men identifying as avid fans of the sport than women.
Women’s professional sports fans in the U.S.
Women’s professional sports viewership in the U.S. has grown significantly in recent years, helped at least partially by tournament victories across a wide range of sporting categories. When asked about the reason behind their interest in women’s sport in the U.S., nearly a third of respondents highlighted international events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup as primary motivators for their interest. Meanwhile, when asked about the role of advertisers in promoting the growth of women’s sport in the U.S., more than half of survey participants believed that media agencies had a responsibility to do so.
A January 2023 survey illustrated the average weekly viewership of National Football League games by respondents of different ethnicities in the United States. According to the survey, ** percent of Asian respondents stated that they spent between *** and **** hours a week following NFL games, whereas this figure amounted to ** percent for white survey participants. Meanwhile, ** percent of African American/Black and Latino respondents spent between *** and **** hours weekly watching football.
College football takes place in organized leagues between teams of students from different universities in the U.S. and Canada. The leagues are organized by the NCAA, which is the sports association that organizes a wide range of sports for colleges and students. In a survey conducted in April 2023, around ** percent of respondents aged 35 to 44 stated that they were avid fans of college football in the United States.
American Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States, enjoyed by thousands of people live in the stadiums and millions more back home. The highest league in the land is the NFL, which consists of 32 teams divided equally into two conferences. At the end of the season, the two best-performing teams compete for the ultimate prize at the Super Bowl. College football is seen as the final step up towards the NFL, with the best performers on the college circuit gaining lucrative contracts with NFL teams at the end of each season during the NFL Draft. A January 2020 survey showed that 18 percent of respondents aged 30 to 44 very much preferred watching college football to NFL on TV.
In 2023, the greatest share of players by ethnic group in the National Football League (NFL) were black or African American athletes, constituting just over ** percent of players within the NFL. Despite the large population of Hispanic or Latino people within the United States, there is a substantial underrepresentation within the NFL, with only *** percent of players identifying as such. National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that was established in 1920 and now consists of 32 clubs divided into two conferences, the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The league culminates in the Super Bowl, the NFL's annual championship game. As the league’s championship game, the Super Bowl has grown into one of the world's largest single-day sporting events, attracting high television ratings and generating billions of dollars in consumer spending. NFL revenues The NFL is one of the most profitable sports leagues in the world, generating a staggering **** billion U.S. dollars in 2022. This total revenue of all ** NFL teams has constantly increased over the past 15 years and, although this figure dropped significantly in 2020, this was largely as a result of the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) containment measures. This significant drop in revenue demonstrates one of the primary impacts of COVID-19 on professional sports leagues. NFL franchises As a result of this profitability in non-pandemic times, the franchises of the NFL are attributed extremely high market values. The Dallas Cowboys were by far the most valuable franchise in the NFL, with a market value of **** billion US dollars in 2023. The high value of NFL franchises can be seen clearly when compared to those of the NBA, MLB, and NHL. Franchises within the NFL had an average market value of approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023.
The NFL is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States, with televised games attracting millions of viewers each week. As of April 2025, a survey determined that 26 percent of respondents in the United States considered the NFL to be their top interest.
Sports are a hobby enjoyed by young and old alike, from throwing a baseball in the back garden to watching your favorite team play live or on the TV with family. During a January 2020 survey in the United States, ** percent of Hispanic respondents stated that football was their favorite sport to watch.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional football league in the United States comprising 32 teams spread out over two conferences. As one of the biggest professional sports leagues in the country, it is no surprise that the NFL attracts fans from all walks of life. In a 2020 survey, it was found that ** percent of Los Angeles fans were Hispanic, while ** percent were Black.
The National Football League (NFL) was the most watched sports league in the United States in 2023. Viewers watched a combined 974.7 billion minutes of football action across the 284 televised games between November 2022 and November 2023. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball (MLB) ranked second with a little less than 330 billion combined minutes from viewers.
How much does a Super Bowl ad cost?
The price of running an ad during the Super Bowl has tripled over the past two decades. In 2024, advertisers paid an average of seven million U.S. dollars to air a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl LVI broadcast. The renowned sporting event is highly anticipated each year and is watched by millions around the world. In the U.S., the 2024 edition of the Super Bowl was watched by over 123 million Americans.
How many people watch the World Series?
Unlike the Super Bowl, MLB World Series TV viewership experienced an overall decrease over the past two decades. The games of the 2023 World Series, in which the Texas Rangers achieved a five-game series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, were watched by around nine million viewers. This shows a considerable drop from the previous year, when nearly 12 million people tuned in to see the Houston Astros win the Commissioner’s Trophy.
There are millions of sports fans across the United States, from religiously following an NFL team to being avid tennis fans or watching every Formula One Grand Prix. During an April 2023 survey in the United States, 37 percent of respondents aged 35 to 44 stated that they were avid sports fans. This figure dropped to 17 percent among respondents aged 65 and older.
Of the big four professional sports leagues in North America, the NFL and the NBA have the highest percentage of African American players. In 2024, around **** percent of NFL players were African American, as well as around **** percent of assistant coaches.
As of August 2023, around half of NFL fans aged 18-29 were white. Meanwhile, ** percent of NFL fans aged 30 or older were Black, while this figure stood at ** percent among those aged 18 to 29.
The Miami Dolphins and the Chicago Bears were the most popular NFL franchises in the United States as of the first quarter of 2025. Just under one **** of the surveyed respondents in the United States had a positive opinion of the two franchises. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles, who claimed their Super Bowl title in 2024, were the third most popular NFL team. How many people watch the Super Bowl in the U.S.? The TV viewership of the Super Bowl in the U.S. peaked in 2025 when the Philadelphia Eagles emerged victorious against the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was watched by over *** million people throughout the country. Meanwhile, the second most watched Super Bowl aired the previous year, in 2023, when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers. Which NFL player has won the most MVP awards? Since the trophy was first awarded during the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, *** players have won the MVP award more than once. Tom Brady was the player with the most Super Bowl MVP Awards as of 2024, having won the award a record **** times. Joe Montana and Patrick Mahomes followed in the ranking with ***** wins each.
The 2025 edition of the Super Bowl, which saw the Philadelphia Eagles emerge victorious against the Kansas City Chiefs was watched by ***** million viewers in the United States, making it not only the most watched Super Bowl in history, but also the most popular TV program of all time in the U.S. The second most watched Super Bowl was aired in the previous year, when the Kansas City Chiefs won against the San Francisco 49ers. What is the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl is the last game of the NFL season with the winners of the two football conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), competing with each other. The game determines the champion of the National Football League. The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 football season. In that game, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, then of the American Football League, with a score of 35 to 10, winning the first-ever Super Bowl championship. Super Bowl giants The Super Bowl came into being as part of a merger agreement between the two rival football leagues (National Football League and the American Football League) at the time. From 1967 to 1970, the game pitted the champions of the two rival leagues against each other. Since 1971 and the completion of the merger agreement, the winners of the two conferences have squared off against each other. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots have won the most Super Bowl titles, with a total of * each. The Patriots have also appeared in the National Football League’s annual championship game a record ** times, thereby topping the list for Super Bowl appearances.
The Detroit Lions were the most watched team in the NFL in the 2024 regular season, with their games drawing in an average TV audience of over ** million fans. Meanwhile, the regular season games of the Philadelphia Eagles, the winners of the Super Bowl that year, averaged just over **** million viewers.
As of January 2024, professional football was the most popular men's live sport in the United States, with ** percent of people watching it. Professional basketball came second with ** percent of viewers. By contrast, college football and basketball drew ** and ** percent of viewers, respectively.
With over eight million fans, the Dallas Cowboys were the most followed National Football League team on Facebook as of November 2024. Second on the list were the New England Patriots, six-time winners of the Super Bowl. NFL on social mediaWhile the Cowboys lead the way on Facebook, the New England Patriots have the largest following on X (Twitter). The New England team had around 4.65 million fans as of November 2024. Meanwhile, the team with the lowest social media following, on Facebook and Twitter, were the Jacksonville Jaguars.The cost of being an NFL fanFollowing your favorite team on social media is one thing, but it does not compare to the atmosphere of being at a live game. However, while football is loved across America, being a fan of the sport does not come cheap. The average cost for a family of four to enjoy a home game in the NFL, including refreshments and merchandise, came to a staggering 631 U.S. dollars in 2023. This marks an increase of nearly 300 U.S. dollars on the figure from 2006.
Despite declining popularity in recent years, football remains the most popular high school sports program for male participants. The games are also regularly well-attended with each school having a following from both within the school and from the local community. During a survey conducted in January 2020, 15 percent of African American respondents were very interested in high school football in the United States.
The National Football League comprises 32 teams from across the United States competing in two conferences split roughly by region. The NFL is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States, with televised games attracting millions of viewers each week. A January 2025 survey found that 24 percent of women in the U.S. considered the NFL to be their top interest. Meanwhile, the share of American men who considered the NFL their top interest was 36 percent.