When it comes to National Football League (NFL) team sponsorships, brands are more concerned with where a team is located rather than who the team are, according to GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company has ranked NFL teams by total sponsorship revenue for 2021 and points out that none of the five biggest NFL team sponsorship earners —namely, the New York Jets (which earned $161 million), New York Giants ($158 million), LA Chargers ($133 million), the LA Rams ($132 million) and the Dallas Cowboys ($128 million) — have won a Super Bowl in the last ten years. The company argues that these team’s locations gave them a greater edge when it comes to winning sponsorship deals than NFL trophies.

Jake Kemp, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “While historical success certainly has some impact on commercial appeal, brands are much more excited by the prospect of partnering with a team linked to a highly populated metropolitan city such as New York. A perfect example is the New York Jets. This team does have one Super Bowl win to its name, but has since failed to qualify for the playoffs in each of the past ten completed seasons. Further, with a current regular season record of three wins and eight losses, its hopes of changing its playoff form looks highly unlikely, if not impossible. However, who is the top sponsorship ranking by revenue? Why the New York Jets!”

Kemp continues: “You could also look at this from the reverse position. The Kansas City Chiefs have been present at each of the past two Super Bowls, but rank only number 15 in GlobalData’s list of NFL team sponsorship earners. The power of a strong team, and a highly marketable Quarter Back in Patrick Mahomes, has not been enough to boost its commercial appeal to anywhere near the sort of numbers associated with the most profitable franchises from sponsorship.”

According to GlobalData’s research, the top four biggest earners in 2021 are all based in the biggest geographical cities in the US: New York and Los Angeles.

Kemp adds: “Large metropolitan cities not only boast a larger local audience and fanbase, but are also more likely to generate national and international media attention.”

Kemp notes the differences between the NFL and European soccer have a part to play.

Kemp explains: “Each team is guaranteed a place in the NFL each season, without the fear of relegation faced by teams in the European soccer league. For brands sponsoring the NFL, this means that they have a guaranteed level of success that is not available in soccer — whereby a team’s relegation from the Premier League to the Championship would have a substantial impact on the value and interest of prospective partners.”

While there is a large level of disparity across the NFL, in terms of how much money can be generated from sponsorship sales, it is nonetheless a huge market that franchises have been able to capitalize on. Combined, the NFL teams are estimated to generate ~$2.1 billion this season, which comes out at a team average of $66.05 million — all of which should significantly help recover COVID-19-related losses over the past few years.