The Green Bay Packers are the only publicly owned NFL team, and with that comes the requirement that they disclose their financial statements each year. Most of the numbers are specific to the organization, but there is one number that is of interest to all 32 NFL teams: the national revenue.
Sports teams sell tickets, concessions, and merchandise, but the real money for a lot of NFL teams is the national television contract. The 49ers are on the high end for ticket revenue given their new stadium, but the national television deal is still a big deal.
According to the Packers financial statements, each NFL team received $255.9 million in national revenue. That includes the national TV deals, road-game revenue sharing, and various other national revenue. According to multiple reports, most of the money in the national revenue comes from the TV deals.
Effectively, an NFL owner gets a check for a quarter billion dollars before a single football game is played.
Arguably the most interesting part of the Packers release was comments by team president Mark Murphy. He said that the protests and any other issues owners viewed as negatives did not impact their books. They did see a decrease in net income, but that was due to not getting to count the Chargers/Rams/Raiders relocation fees they accrued last season.
Television ratings are down for the NFL, but ratings are down in television across the board. There is plenty to criticize about the NFL, but it remains king.