The NFL is Last Among the Four Major North American Sports in Average Player Salary
By Jason Lisk
Business Insider had a chart of the average salary for 17 different professional sports leagues, including the “Big 4” of North American Sports: NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. MLS is also listed.
The NBA leads the way among all leagues, with an average player salary of $4.58 million. Cricket (the IPL in India) comes in 2nd, followed by MLB, then the EPL, with the NHL rounding out the top 5.
The NFL has an average player salary of $2.11 million, roughly half of MLB’s average salary. The NFL does have larger total player expenditures than the NBA due to the larger roster sizes, as $3.6 billion was paid out in NFL salaries, compared to $2.1 billion in the NBA.
Still, keep this in mind going forward if that gap grows despite the NFL’s popularity and mega-TV deals. In an age where youth players are differentiating earlier, will the relatively lower “dangling carrot” of salaries compared to other sports be a factor?