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The National Football League is on the clock and ready to commence its 102nd season on Thursday.
The defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play the Dallas Cowboys in what should be a highly rated opener among two popular quarterbacks — Tom Brady and Dak Prescott. Meanwhile, the NFL’s overall opponent remains Covid, with more variants developing and fears of another wave of cases in the fall.
A positive case has already affected the season opener, with Cowboys starting offensive lineman Zack Martin missing the game. And last month, a mini outbreak occurred within the Tennessee Titans. The NFL said more than 99% of league and team staff are vaccinated, but added it expects more positive cases this season even among vaccinated individuals. Still, the league remains adamant about finishing the season on time. The NFL already fined players for Covid-related violations and threatened forfeitures for teams that don’t follow the rules.
So, the show will go on. Here’s a quick glimpse of what’s happening on the business front before the 2021 NFL season kicks off.
Chasing 100 million viewers
After agreeing to more than $100 billion over the next decade for its media rights, the NFL’s viewership will remain in the headlines this season, especially with networks increasing advertisement rates to pay for their investment.
ViacomCBS will further leverage its NFL content and return the Nickelodeon game during the postseason. The kid-friendly telecast was popular and could draw marketers looking for a younger audience. And CNBC parent company NBCUniversal is banking its Super Bowl broadcast could draw 100 million viewers. The 2022 Super Bowl ad rate is already expected to increase to roughly $6 million, up from from $5.5 million this year. At that rate, it’s likely to eclipse $545 million in revenue, which CBS Sports made from the 2021 game.
The question is: in a new TV consumption environment, will the NFL’s top contest ever consistently attract more than 100 million viewers again?
The Super Bowl failed to draw in 100 million viewers two of the last three years, following nine straight years of eclipsing that total. The 2021 game averaged 96.4 million viewers (including streaming) for the Bucs vs. Kansas City Chiefs matchup. It’s the lowest viewed Super Bowl game since 2007.
NBC last aired the Super Bowl in 2018 and drew over 100 million viewers. The 2015 game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks remains the most-watched Super Bowl with roughly 114 million viewers, and that game was also NBC.
Brady should help jump-start things
Both the games included Brady, who started 2021 strong on and off the field.
Brady, 44, won his seventh Super Bowl after leading the Bucs past the Chiefs, reclaimed the top-selling merchandise spot from Patrick Mahomes. He even got into the NFT business. On Thursday, he’ll look to move up in the record books, too.
Brady needs 300 passing yards to join quarterback-turned-NBC-Sports-analyst Drew Brees as the only two players in NFL history with at least 100 career games of 300 or more passing yards. Doing so in a primetime matchup should only help the storytelling component of the broadcast.
NBC aims to surpass an average of 19.3 million viewers, which its opener drew for last year for the Chiefs and Houston Texans matchup. According to advertising data firm EDO, the network brings in an estimated ad spend of $50 million for NFL openers.
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