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The National Football League (NFL) is certainly the most popular sports leagues in the United States, and a dive into the numbers show exactly by how much.
A recent story by FiveThirtyEight discovered that thousands more people show up to NFL stadiums than in NBA, MLB, and NHL games.
TV Ratings
In terms of overall TV ratings, the NFL is indeed the most-watched sports league in the United States.
From NFL Media: In the 2022 regular season:
185+ million people watched NFL games
16.7 million average viewers per NFL game.
88 NFL games have ranked among the top 100 shows on TV in the year 2022. pic.twitter.com/9SH1gdM1B2
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 11, 2023
88 NFL games have ranked among the top 100 shows on TV in the year 2022.
Attendance
When looking at average attendance per game, the NFL does have a larger average attendance than the NBA, MLB, and NHL.
It’s important to note that attendance can vary based on a variety of factors, including the size of the stadium, the popularity of the team, and the location of the game.
Also notable to consider the size of the stadiums used by each league, as well as the number of games played in a season, which can affect overall attendance figures. So while it may be true that the NFL has higher average attendance figures than some other major sports leagues, keep in mind the context and nuances of the data when making such comparisons.
In summary, anyway you look at it, the NFL is certainly the most popular sports league in the United States, by a significant margin.
From NFL Media: Overall the 2022 season playoffs have had 218 million viewers.
The Conference Championship games averaged 50.7 million viewers.pic.twitter.com/It7BdyaWE0
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 1, 2023