The NFL will come together in Phoenix this week for its annual meeting. Fresh off one of the most competitive and compelling seasons in history, the league will focus on raising the bar in 2023. From innovation to player health and safety, fan engagement to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, membership will engage in critical discussions to continue building a game that is competitive, accessible, and growing.
The following is a summary of progress since last year’s annual meeting:
o State of the Game:
▪ 2022 average final score margin of 9.70 was the lowest for a full season since 1932 (9.13).
▪ Comeback single-season records:
• Games in which deficit of 10 or more overcome to win or tie: 52.
▪ Competitive Balance: Since 1990—a streak of 33 consecutive seasons — at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before.
• 50 percent new playoff teams in 2022.
• 50 percent new division winners in 2022.
▪ Young Quarterbacks: The final 4 quarterbacks were all 27 or younger (Mahomes-27, Burrow-26, Hurts-24, Purdy-23).
o Player Health and Safety: The NFL continues to lead on health and safety and lean on medical advancements and data-driven injury reduction strategies.
▪ Overall injuries declined 5.4% in the regular season.
• Concussions: Across the past five seasons, there has been an average sustained 25% reduction in concussions due to improved protective equipment rules changes, and adjustments to playing style and technique.
• Diagnosed concussions rose 14% during the full 2022 season (regular and post) with a per game rate roughly the same as it was a couple of years ago.
• Guided by medical experts, enhanced protocols led to even more conservative evaluation and diagnosis of concussions. Doctors conducted 3-4 evaluations for every one concussion diagnosis.
• Emergency Action Plans: Every NFL club is required to create, rehearse and update annually a comprehensive Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for all NFL practice and playing facilities. It was this plan that guided the response to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.
o Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
▪ Front Office Diversity:
• 7 team presidents are people of color—most ever.
o 4 were hired in the past year—Kevin Warren (CHI), Damani Leech (DEN), Sashi Brown (BAL), Sandra Douglass Morgan (LV).
• 9 general managers are people of color—most ever.
▪ Ownership Diversity: 15 clubs have female ownership or close involvement on a daily basis.
▪ Coaching Diversity: People of color represented 43 percent of all coaches, up from 35% in 2020.
• 15 women in team coaching roles, up 25 percent from 2021, and the most ever in any professional male league in the world.
▪ 2023 Hiring Cycle: Every club with open head coach/primary football executive positions exceeded the Rooney Rule requirement of interviewing at least two external diverse candidates.
• HEAD COACH (five open positions): 12 diverse candidates out of 28 total interviewed: 43%.
• PRIMARY FOOTBALL EXECUTIVE (two open positions): 7 diverse candidates out of 11 total interviewed: 64%.
▪ Coaching and Front Office Accelerator Program: The Accelerator is creating networking opportunities for diverse candidates and team owners.
• Ran Carthon, an Accelerator participant, hired as general manager of the Tennessee Titans.
▪ Inspire Change: The NFL provided more than $250 million to 40+ national social justice grant partners and more than 650 grassroots organizations across the country. A 5-year, $15 million extension with the players Coalition was reached.
o Innovation:
▪ New for 2023 season:
• A groundbreaking NFL Sunday Ticket agreement with YouTube.
• Flexible scheduling for Monday Night Football, allowing fans to watch more meaningful games in primetime.
• The first Black Friday game on Amazon Prime (available to all fans, not just subscribers).
▪ 2022 Advancements:
• Debut of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime.
o Median viewer age of 47 is eight years younger than the median on traditional linear networks and the youngest for an NFL broadcast package since 2013.
• NFL Films formed a partnership with Skydance, an award-winning media company to produce sports documentaries and feature films.
• NFL+ was launched to expand the league’s direct-to-consumer efforts.
• The NFL joined forces with NOBULL, making them the “Official Combine Training Partner of the NFL” and in the process reimagining the athlete experience at the NFL Scouting Combine.
• The NFL innovated with Gatorade by launching Fast Twitch, a new sports performance energy drink that will help fuel player performance on the field and elevate the fan experience through a differentiated product offering.
o Fan Engagement:
▪ Super Bowl Viewership: According to Nielsen, Super Bowl LVII reached approximately 200 million viewers.
▪ The Biggest Day of the Year on the Internet:
• NFL social video views were up 42% from last year.
• The most engaging day ever on NFL Social (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok).
o Regular Season Viewership: More than 185M fans watched NFL games during the 2022 regular season.
▪ During the 2022 regular season, NFL games ranked as the top 25 and as 47 of the top 50 telecasts (non-NFL were CFP semifinals and Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade).
▪ Despite representing only 12% of the games across the four major leagues, the NFL represents 71% of total content consumption.
o Globalizing the game:
▪ 2022 international games broke all records (attendance, viewership, merchandise).
• First-ever regular season game in Germany.
o Was NFL Network’s most-watched international game on ecord in the United States with more than 5.8 million viewers.
▪ NFL is all in on flag football, one of the world’s fastest growing and most inclusive sports.
• Flag featured in International Games, Pro Bowl Games, and Super Bowl.
• The NFL is supporting bid for flag inclusion at the LA 2028 Olympics.
o Ticket Sales: Attendance at NFL games was up 6% vs. 2021 and exceeded pre-pandemic metrics from 2019.
o Social Media: Social media video views on social content up 21 percent—fully distributed across every major platform.
