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
- 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.
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• 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.
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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.
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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
record 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 prepandemic metrics from 2019.
o Social Media: Social media video views on social content up 21 percent—fully
distributed across every major platform.
