E-Poll Market Research

The NFL’s Most Marketable Players and Sponsors

NFL-newWith the start of the 2018-2019 NFL season, it’s time for our annual look at the marketability of some of the top players in one of the most powerful and successful sports leagues in the U.S., including the success of some of its biggest sponsors.

Having a top NFL athlete as an endorser can significantly boost a brand’s profile, especially among NFL fans – who make up a large part of the U.S. population. Here are some of the league’s most liked athletes among NFL fans.

  • Over half of the top ten most-liked athletes are quarterbacks, led by Carson Wentz who holds the top spot despite suffering a late-season injury which sidelined him for Super Bowl LII.
  • Not only are the Philadelphia Eagles the only team to have more than one player make the list but both their quarterbacks cracked the top ten with backup QB, Nick Foles, likely benefiting from having led the Eagles to their first championship.
  • J.J. Watt is the top non-quarterback on the most-liked list with his already high Appeal getting a boost from his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Harvey.

Look back at previous NFL Marketability lists here:

Marketable Player Attributes

For a brand to discover the right endorser, sometimes it is necessary to look beyond Appeal. With E-Score® Celebrity, brands looking for endorsers can pinpoint marketable attributes that fall in line with their brand to find the perfect match.

  • Odell Beckham Jr. tops the Stylish attribute list (19) which is dominated by wide receivers, who take up the top five spots.
  • J.J. Watt tops the list and leads all other NFL Athletes in Influential by the largest margin between consecutive spots on the list (10%).
  • With a hot start in 2017 that led the Eagles to one of the best records in the league, Carson Wentz is rated most Interesting among NFL athletes.

NFL Sponsors

Being one of the top sports leagues in the country has led brands across various categories to align themselves with the NFL. To view the potential impact of a sponsorship, E-Score®Brand allows key measures to be filtered by NFL fandom, helping gauge the influence a brand has on NFL fans versus non-fans.Top-Sponsors-NFL

  • Bose headphones can be seen on coaches during games and this appears to connect with avid NFL fans. Compared to non-fans, avid fans have significant leads in Appeal (36% vs. 23%) and Brand Loyalty (51 vs. 35%).
  • Avid NFL fans significantly favor sports apparel and equipment giants such as Nike and Under Armour with both brands more than doubling the Appeal from non-fans to avid NFL fans.
  • Beverage brands in subcategories like sports drinks such as Gatorade or alcoholic beverages such as Bud Light also see significant increases in Appeal among avid NFL fans compared to non-fans.

Resources

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