Top 10 Richest Sports Leagues in the World

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Sports have emerged as a multi-billion-dollar industry connecting people globally and rewarding players handsomely. Over 100 sports players inspire their fans with their god-gifted skills and contribute massively to the world’s economy. 

Today, this industry has become a path of great success in which both fame and richness are offered to the players. Who doesn’t know Ronaldo and Messi, who are globally known as the best footballers in the world? In this article, you will explore the world’s top 10 richest sports leagues. 

The globally recognized sports market has risen tremendously from $486 billion in 2021 to $512.4 billion in 2023. As per the expectations, the economy is about to cross the $700 billion mark by 2026. In this article, you will explore the world’s top 10 richest sports leagues. 

National Football League

The National Football League, or NFL, founded in 1920 is at the top of the list of the top 10 richest sports leagues in the world, which is the most expensive in the world with revenue of $13 billion as of the year 2023. 

The football teams are the highest-paying players in the world, with the Dallas Cowboys having the highest value of $10.32 billion. In second place, Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers was set to take $59.465 million in 2023, and after restructuring his contract, he will now be able to make $75 million for two years. 

The NFL’s 32 franchises bag the lion’s share of the revenue; interestingly, this league also houses 29 of the world’s 50 most expensive stadiums. The NFL is the most loved game in America, and this has become the highest-watched sports league in the world.

This is a kind of sport that has intense competition and high-stakes games. A massive part of its revenue comes from its advertising and broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales, and its long-term contracts with some of the top telecom companies like ESPN, Fox, NBC, and others help it to fetch billions of dollars annually. 

The world-known league has been in collaboration with some of the top international MNCs like PepsiCo, Nike, and Visa. This league’s revenue has only been affected during the time of COVID-19 in 2020, and the revenues slipped a little bit, but after the next two matches and successful games, it’s back on track and expected to reach $25 billion in revenue by 2027.

Indian Premier League 

This League IPL is the second number for having the greatest richness during its time, and the participating players bag billions of dollars in their hands. The League has achieved the point of $9.5 billion, and the richest team in this League is the Mumbai Indians (MI), with a brand worth $86.4 million. 

The IPL players have big fat checks in their hands in this league, and every player has $5.3 million in their hands on average annually. 

This Indian unicorn started in 2008 with the greatest valuation of about $1.1 billion, organizing about 16-fold jumps since its inception. The IPL Trophy with the 70 match tournaments was mostly organized during Indian Summers and is now counted as the second most charming league in the world.

This league is the most watched cricket match series in which cricketers from all across the world participate and also bag the hearts of their fans with some magical shorts. IPL has partnered with several international companies like VIVO, Paytm, TATA, and Dream11, which also contributes to creating the highest revenue for the world.

Major League Baseball

This is the third league in the world that has won the tag of the richest league. Major League Baseball has bagged the richness of about $11.34 billion in revenue in 2023, with the Los Angeles Dodgers earning the most remuneration of $5 million. 

From the last record of 2001 this year, it grabbed the rise of about 11.1%, the highest record, with an average salary of an individual player of about $4.9 million. The history of the MLB has witnessed several players who have been one of the richest players in the world, and Aaron Judge is the top of them, who has become the highest-paid position player with a $360 million nine-year contract with the New York Yankees. 

The MBL started in 1992, and now it has around 30 teams that have played around 162 games each year. Its playing style and international love won millions of viewers’ hearts.

The major part of the revenue comes directly from branding rights and sponsorships, including the sales of tickets, but the league faced the fear of loss during COVID-19, which later on covered its track by rising revenue and growth.

Nationwide Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is in the fourth position in the list of the top 10 richest sports leagues in the world, with a worth of $10 billion as its revenue. The North American NBA is the world’s most prestigious and affluent league, in which the average team is worth around $3 billion, and one of the best teams, the Golden State Warriors, is the most valuable, which is worth around $7.56 billion.

Currently, the league is having the best position in the richness of the league in the sports industry. After facing the impact of COVID-19 in 2019 and 2021 in its revenue, the league again achieved a rise in revenue growth. The NBA League has gone through an impressive transformation from $3.7 billion in 2012 to $10 billion in 2022. 

English Premier League 

The English Premier League is the fifth richest sports league in the world, and it also generates an annual income of nearly Euro 7 billion in 2022-2023, with the average revenue of the individual league club worth $151 billion. The collective value of all the 20s cubs of the league is worth about a whopping $30.3 billion.

If we avoided the COVID-19 period, the EPL would have achieved great revenue, bagged successive growth, and given some of the best players, like some of the great footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku by Manchester United.

The league has captured the greatest collaborations and the broadcasting firms, which contributed the largest revenue growth throughout the whole journey. 

National Hockey League

The very well-known Leageu of the North America National Hockey League (NHL) is the sixth richest sports league. This one is the most popular ice hockey league, which has an estimated value of $6.43 billion, with the most valuable team, the New York Rangers, bagging a revenue of around $2.2 billion.

This league is the home of 32 teams and around 82 games and tournaments annually. This league is generating most of the revenue using broadcasting and sponsorship rights, including the ticket price as well. 

La Liga Santander

La Liga Santander is one of the richest and most popular football leagues in the world. The net worth of this league is around €5.69 billion, which houses Real Madrid, which will be the richest football club in the world in 2024 with a net worth of $6.6 billion. 

This league is the house of 20 teams that play around 38 games each year, with the help of which it attracts millions of viewers and lovers from all across the world. This league attracts some of the biggest teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Villarreal, etc.

The majority of the richness of this league comes from broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales. The major collaborations of this league include big companies like Nike and Coca-Cola. 

Bundesliga

This league has witnessed the eighth rank in the list of the top 10 richest sports leagues in the world, which houses around 18 teams that play around 34 games per year. This league is worth around Euro 4.4 billion, and the FC Bayern Munich has a value of about €3.8 billion in 2023. 

This German football league draws large crowds to its stadium with an average of 42,738 tickets sold per game. 

The league generates most of its revenue through broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales, including lucrative deals with television networks.

Series A

This is the ninth richest sports league in the world, which is Italy’s top-tier football league, generating a revenue of around 2.9 billion euros. It is one of the richest sports leagues, but at the same time, it is at the bottom of the list. 

The franchise of series A’s AC has the largest market value of €1 billion in 2023. This league is the home of 20 teams that play 38 games in a year and receives most of its revenue from broadcasting and sponsorship rights. 

UEFA Champions League

Following the richest sports league in the world, the UEFA Champions League has the tenth rank with an estimated revenue of about €3.2 billion, and the Manchester City squad has the highest value, worth €4.1 billion in 2024.

This league has featured some of the top club teams from all across Europe: the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga. The UEFA Champions League is the tenth biggest sports league in the world. 

The league faced a significant year-end drop in revenue in the previous year, but after this, it has again received its position with the rise in revenue.

Conclusion

The sports league is an entertaining and inspiring game where billions of fans interact with their hero, who is also one of the richest players in the world. In this list, there are 10 richest sports leagues in which there have been several great players who inspire their fans. 

The richness of the players and the sports league is widely known among the people who are followers of these sports leagues. The majority of their revenue comes through broadcasting and sponsorships. The tickets are also the main contributor to the richness of these sports leagues.