Richest sport may yet fall to its knees

The NFL season begins tonight as the defending Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, host the Atlanta Falcons, writes Jack Anderson.

The NFL is a sporting and commercial behemoth. It is the richest sports league in the world with revenues of over $13 billion (€11.2 billion) in 2017, which, by way of contrast, is double the reported record revenue of the Premier League for 2016/2017.

Last year, the NFL distributed a record $8bn (€6.8bn) in revenue share to its 32 teams. In a hallmark of the competitive balance which is so important to the NFL, every team received around $255m (€219m).