According to The Hustle, “80% of Broadway producers and investors struggle to recoup their investments, a number that has stayed consistent since at least the 1960s.”
Meaning, if a Broadway investor puts in $80K into a show and doesn’t make $80K back, they are in the hole; if they make $85K, that’s a profit.
Standouts like The Lion King have generated over $1.3 billion and are outliers. Most Broadway shows aren’t subject to that type of success. It’s not about a show being bad; it’s about whether tickets are sold at a rate that exceeds its expenses.
According to Baruch College, 65% of the Broadway audience is tourists.
Look at the success of an NFL team: they consistently recoup and make a profit. But if the NFL relied solely on ticket sales, they wouldn’t make a profit—the majority of their revenue stems from TV deals.
Broadway is not able to digitize because it would affect its live-show bottom line. Its main customer base travels to New York City to see live shows, which justifies high ticket prices. If Broadway digitized, it would cause customers to stop traveling, watch from home, and spend less money on streaming services. While that would benefit customers, it would hit Broadway’s pockets; theater owners, who hold a kind of monopoly, would face new competition.
The NFL is in the TV business—ad dollars. They are shifting to go global to secure international TV contracts and access ad dollars overseas. They are not concerned with ticket sales revenue, but are competing with soccer to one day generate more revenue outside the U.S.
McDonald’s is in the real estate business, not the burger business.
The NFL wants to create a team similar to Real Madrid, a club that generates about 50% of its revenue overseas.
If the NFL relied solely on ticket sales, it wouldn’t make a profit. The majority of its revenue is from TV deals.
The NFL is in the TV business—ad dollars—going global to secure international TV contracts and access overseas ad revenue. It is not concerned with ticket sales and is competing with soccer to grow revenue outside the U.S.
Football will never become the world’s sport because you can be dirt poor and still have access to play soccer—on dirt roads, grass, pavement, anywhere. Football requires equipment that costs money.
Soccer is easy to learn and easier to play. The NFL is complex, with strategy on both offense and defense. Football is more like chess; soccer is like checkers. There are many positions in football—QB, RB, WR, LT, LG, kicker, punter, DT, etc.
Soccer has more longevity, dating back to 1904. Matches feel like life and death, tied to local culture. Soccer is tied to nationality and global rivalries.
Football broadcasts are stop-and-go, stretching games out to three hours. Soccer runs in continuous 45-minute halves.
The NFL knows it can’t fully mimic the simplicity of soccer, but it is trying to move toward flag football: easier to play, more continuous coverage, fewer commercials, simpler rules, and more inclusive of non-athletes. It is pushing influencers and trying to create a “Rudy”-type persona—manufacturing superstars and giving a lottery-like impression that anyone can make it big, become a global flag football star, even a billionaire.
Potentially, this could supplement or partially replace traditional football—limiting CTE lawsuits, reducing injuries, extending careers, and appealing to parents who don’t want their kids playing contact sports. It could drive merchandise sales, online viewership, and possibly lead to U.S.-funded European leagues that tap into global ad and TV revenue.
The NFL’s international player strategy is not enough to compete with soccer because soccer holds an insurmountable advantage in global accessibility and deeply established cultural pipelines.
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