Jack Thurman of Sports Betting World says that the good news for the National Football League is that it enjoyed a highly successful 2009 season, and the better news is that it seems poised to better that performance in 2010 by a significant margin.
SBW noted that the television audience for the sport grew 9% last season, but thinks 15% growth is not an unreasonable expectation for 2010 on top of last year’s gain. That’s good news not only for the NFL, but for the many businesses that indirectly benefit by tie-ins to the sport of one kind or another (including SBW’s tie-in).
The biggest sign, says Thurman, is the audience pulled in by television coverage of the NFL college draft on ESPN and the NFL Network. First round coverage drew some 23.3M viewers, and was blamed for taking a bite out of NBC prime time comedies “30 Rock” and “The Office.”
