National Football League teams ranked by average attendance 2023
Of the 32 teams competing within the National Football League (NFL), the one that has seen the greatest average attendance in the 2023 season was the Dallas Cowboys, with an average attendance of 93,594. Considerably greater than the runners-up, the New York Giants, who played in front of an average attendance of 79,307. In contrast, it was the Chicago Bears that saw the lowest attendance in the 2023 season, with an average attendance of 61,769.
Franchises feel the impact of COVID
Ticketing revenue is one of the main sources of income for franchises in the NFL. In recent years, gate receipts have made up around 15 percent of the NFL's total revenue, with the average ticket price for a game rising to over 100 U.S. dollars in the last four years. With the matchday experience playing such an important role in the enjoyment and success of the NFL, the sport was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Estimates during the pandemic suggested that some teams stood to lose up to almost 380 million U.S. dollars in potential ticketing revenue as a result of the health crisis. Ultimately, 13 of the 32 teams in the league played every single one of their home games behind closed doors in 2020, while the other teams were only able to admit a fraction of their stadium's capacity.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are an American football club from the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan and are one of the most popular teams playing within the NFL’s National Football Conference East division. The franchise generated approximately 800 million US dollars in revenue in 2020. As a result of this popularity and financial success in 2021, the Dallas Cowboys were the most highly valued franchise within the NFL, with an estimated franchise value of 6.5 billion US dollars. These latest estimates value the franchise 1.5 billion U.S. dollars greater than its nearest rival, the New England Patriots, and considerably greater than that of the average franchise value in the NFL, which was estimated to be approximately 3.48 billion US dollars.