he past 25 years have seen the NFL go from America’s most popular sport to a cultural force that transcends all other domestic leagues and events. According to Nielson, the most-watched broadcast of all time in the United States was Super Bowl LIX (i.e., the one played just this year), which broke the record set by Super Bowl LVII (2024), which broke the record set by Super Bowl LVII (2023). Football has been popular for decades, but this was the century when it became the entertainment product. As Roger Goodell says, the league’s competition isn’t the NBA or MLB. Its Apple or Google
