North America sports market size from 2009 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)*

The statistic shows the sports market size in North America from 2009 to 2018, with forecasts from 2019 to 2023. In 2018, the North American sports market had a value of about 71.06 billion U.S. dollars. This figure is expected to rise to 83.1 billion by 2023. The market is composed of the segments gate revenues, media rights, sponsorships and merchandising.

Sports market in the United States - additional information

Today’s sports market size is experiencing strong growth, having developed into a full-blown worldwide industry in the past decades, with unprecedented levels of revenue and more industry players than ever. The market is divided into four main segments: gate receipts (ticket sales for live sporting events), sponsorship, media rights and merchandising.

With more than 71 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2018, the North American sports market is one of the largest in the world. On the global level and in the U.S. as well, gate receipts represent one of the largest revenue segments in the sports market. For 2018, some 19.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue were generated through ticket sales alone in North America. The largest revenue stream in the US sports market is the media rights market, where revenue is generated from fees paid by radio, television or internet broadcasters to distribute sporting events. Due to the wide availability of media devices, this sector has increased tremendously in size in the past ten years, from 8.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2006 to 20.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

The sponsorship sector, which includes revenues generated by payments from companies to have their products associated with an event, a team or a league, has also been expanding in the past years. In 2018, an estimated 17.17 billion U.S. dollars of revenues were generated through this channel, with projections as high as 20.65 billion by 2023. The merchandising sector, which includes everything from team jerseys to branded sports equipment, has registered slow but steady growth, with projected revenues reaching over 15.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.