Is College football Bigger than the NBA?-A Quick Insight

28 December 2021

There is a great contest to find the most prominent sport when comparing college football to the NBA. The competition arises between the fans of either side, each crediting their preference as more significant and widespread. An overall perspective on the two games will likely give a clear view of the more prominent sport.

This article aims to enlighten the reader on the bigger sport by considering revenue, net worth, ratings, revenue sharing differences, attendance, and viewership.

First and foremost, here are some of the common differences between the two sports:

  • No of players: Typically, college football squads usually have 53 players. In contrast, NBA squads usually have about twelve to fifteen players.
  • The number of matches in a season: An entire college football season usually encompasses sixteen matches. In contrast, NBA sports usually have eighty-two matches in a regular season.
  • Mode of play: An interesting aspect of the NFL game is the habit of intentional collision between the players while NBA players do their best to avoid colliding.
  • The other element is how the season finalizes, with the NFL concluding with the Super Bowl, unlike the NBA, which finishes with a seven-day tournament.

Perspective on Revenue Collection and Sharing

Typically, a college football season encompasses 256 games while that of the NBA has 1,230 NBA matches. It is easy to imagine that NBA matches raise more revenue when someone compares the number of games, but this is not always the case.

Statistics indicate that NFL sport increases as much as 50% more than NBA sports, with the 2017/2018 season a case consideration. Furthermore, sponsorship of NFL deals raises more income than NBA sponsorship deals.

There is also a tremendous variation in how income is shared, with NBA sports being more cautious. For example, while each team is likely to receive an equal amount of the revenue collected in college football, the NBA teams usually gather their yearly income together. They then share it depending on each team’s annual salary cap.

A comparison between the revenue collected from the Super Bowl and the NBA Playoffs depicts that the NFL has the upper hand since the total amount collected is at least twice the amount collected in the college football game.

Consideration on Viewership: Which has more viewers?

It is important to note that, while there is statistical evidence that the viewership of college football has gone down, it has not declined to a level that compares to that of the NBA. The sport still has more viewers than the NBA can match at any time soon.

An interesting aspect is that NBA has a viewership advantage since it broadcasts in regions where NFL has not yet begun publishing, such as China, due to commencement times in the USA. Even so, the NFL still attracts thousands of Chinese people who can stay awake to watch the game.

The season finale of the two games still places the Super Bowl higher in terms of viewership than the NBA tournament. For instance, statistics indicate that the super bowl attracted approximately 112 million viewers to watch the game between Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots in 2018. In contrast, the NBA 2017 finals series could only attract a maximum of about 25 million viewers.

A Comparison of Attendance

When using the fan’s appearance element to compare the significance of each of the teams, the NBA emerges as the winner. It is, however, important to note that the NBA has more games than football, a factor that could contribute to the large numbers. It is noteworthy to mention that the 2018 season recorded about 6 million more people that attended NBA than NFL.

However, these numbers were drawn from the sum of all the NBA games played. However, a mathematical computation would indicate that the number of attendance in college football per game is more than those that attend the NBA.

A comparison of attendance trends gives the NBA more prominence since, unlike college football, it seems to be gaining more attention, while that is not the case with football trends.

A ticket price is another perspective that a party may use to gauge the size of the game. Typically, a look at the ticket prices and the fans’ commitment to buying the tickets can indicate a fan’s commitment to a specific sport. Games that charge highly and still attract many viewers are more esteemed than those that charge lower prices; in this respect, college football has the upper hand. In the 2018 season, it is noted that NFL tickets were priced at an average price of $93.0.

In contrast, the NBA tickets averaged $70.0. At the same time, the Super Bowl event had ticket prices at $5,000 while the NBA finals were at approximately $1,800.

Perspective on Net worth: Which of the Games is worth more?

A perspective on the individual team’s worth places college football higher than basketball. Notably, college football is richer than basketball. World ranking sites such as Forbes Magazine have placed the average football squad worth somewhere between $2.0 and $ 6.0 billion. In contrast, an average NBA team is estimated to be worth about $1.0 and $2.0 billion.

For instance, the New York Knicks is one of the most valuable football teams, estimated to range between $1.6 billion and $2.0 billion. On the contrary, the New Orleans Pelicans, the richest NBA team, is worth $1.0 billion. However, NBA teams’ value is continuously increasing, prioritizing their international positioning better than other sports. This has played a significant role in improving their revenues and net worth.

The Bottom Line

The battle between college football and the NBA may run for eternity, with each fan positioning their favorite as the ultimate winner. The contest between fans may also be centered on which is better than the other, which is preference-dependent.

The present statistics position that college football has the bigger of the two sports, but there is a need to be wary of the reciprocating trends between the two. The NBA shows an upward trajectory while the NFL depicts a downward trend. The NFL will maintain its lead in the contest if they streamline its business strategies but may lose the lead if they fail.