Want to invest in the NFL season but are terrible at fantasy football? Then you might want to consider investing in NFL stocks instead. This article will explore some of the best NFL stocks to buy ahead of the 2023 Super Bowl.
Best NFL Stocks
DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ: DKNG)
Everyone knows the house always wins, so why bet on the horse you can buy the entire casino?
That’s exactly what DraftKings offers; the company operates in the sports betting and online gambling industries. The digital sports entertainment and gaming company may be one of the indirect NFL top picks.
Three betting companies have signed a deal with the NFL, with DraftKings being one of them.
The important partnership with the NFL includes being their official daily fantasy partner, as well as a sports betting partner of the National Football League.
The partnership also provides DraftKings access to NFL content and data, which can be leveraged for added revenue. The company has seen rapid growth in recent years, mainly due to the legalization of sports betting in several US states.
In fact, DraftKings has been dominating online sportsbook use over the past year, along with one of its main competitors FanDuel. After losing nearly 87% of its value, DraftKing share prices started to stabilize somewhat around May 2022.
Since then, DraftKings has been rejecting the $10-$11 area, which could be signaling the formation of a bottom.
An upcoming Super Bowl and a technical bottom could all be pointing toward the possibility of a touchdown.
Fox Corp (NASDAQ: FOX)
Undoubtedly, attending a football game in a stadium is an unforgettable experience. But stadiums can only accommodate so many people at a time.
For the rest of us fans, we’ll have to make do with television.
The NFL routinely dominates TV ratings. In 2021, the regular NFL season averaged 17.1 million viewers combined between TV and Digital channels.
Therefore, channels with TV deals that air the sports league games stand to make a good return from the popular sport.
FOX is a publicly traded mass media conglomerate and the home of Fox Sports. Fox News and Fox Sports are two of the most-watched cable networks in the United States.
The mass media conglomerate’s sports channel retains the 2023 Super Bowl bragging rights. As they will be the only TV network airing the game. The game will also be streamed via online platforms, a trend that’s becoming more popular.
For example, Thursday night football is now exclusively streamed via Amazon (AMZN) Prime—the company’s online video streaming platform.
This year’s main event hosting gives FOX leverage over Super Bowl commercial profits. Surely, you’ve heard that Super Bowl commercials are not cheap.
The last time FOX hosted the game in 2020, they reportedly made as much as $600 million worth of ads in a day. Not bad for an event that tends to last less than four hours.
It appears 2023 is not trailing far behind when it comes to profits. The company reported selling out of Super Bowl ads as early as September 2022.
They’ve also set a new record this year by reportedly selling a 7-second ad for $7 million.
This unique positioning could help the company profit from this year’s Super Bowl, which could push up its revenue.
Ratings could be even more substantial if the Dallas Cowboys make the finals. The Cowboys is the team that tends to attract the most television views. But the enthusiasm for FOX extends beyond media buyers as fan interest in the network intensifies.
At the time of this writing, the Fox sports app finds itself trending. The streaming app is currently among the top ten most downloaded in the Apple app store.
The technical stock analysis could also support a move upward.
Shares of FOX have been tightening on a range since 2019, having as much as a 40% upside to their previous high.
Nike (NYSE: NKE)
Nike is an American classic and an incredibly resilient company.
The American multinational designs sport apparel, equipment, accessories, and footwear.
Investing in Nike is another alternative to gain indirect exposure to the NFL.
The sportswear company has an exclusive partnership with the football league that will last through 2028.
Through the partnership, Nike gets to outfit all of the NFL teams.
This creates good publicity and extra revenue for the company. Fans who wish to own original NFL apparel must purchase it from Nike.
Nike pays hefty licensing fees to the NFL for the exclusivity, but the juice might just be worth the squeeze. Original NFL jerseys run for as high as $369 each in the NFL shop.
The company has similar partnerships with other big sports brands, such as the NBA and MLB. They also make individual deals with players for sponsorships and exclusive products.
Nike has a colossal market cap of nearly $200 billion while shares trade at 35 multiples. That translates to nearly $5 billion in income.
The sportswear company also has a high level of institutional ownership, as much as 83%.
High levels of institutional ownership could help signify that smart money has a positive outlook for the company.
Nike saw a nearly 55% drop since its October 2021 peak; it has been able to gain much of it back—gaining nearly as much from its September 2022 bottom.
While Nike could stand to profit from the football season, the company could also do well year-round.
Flutter Entetariment (OTCMKTS: PDYPY)
Flutter is the parent company of FanDuel—DraftKings’ main competitor.
The betting platform is also at the lead of online bets for the NFL and could stand to gain from the upcoming season.
The Irish stock trades over the counter in the United States under the ticker PDYPY. But investors can also track its progress in the London Stock Exchange under the ticker FLTR.
Aside from the FanDuel app, the company also operates popular sports betting websites such as sportsbet.com and PokerStars.
Like its competitor, FanDuel is also in partnership with the NFL and is a market leader in the world of sports betting.
Flutter is another app that has recently moved upwards in the apple store. Although it trails behind DraftKings, the app is among the top 30 most downloaded free apps in the app store.
Shares of PDYPY are up nearly 75% from their July 2022 bottom and could run another 55% before they reach their previous all-time high.
The current valuation places the company’s market cap at nearly $28 billion.
SoFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SOFI)
Our last pick in the list of best NFL stocks is SoFi technologies, which stands for social finance. It might be a surprise to see a personal finance company and online bank in a list of NFL stocks.
After all, what does an online bank have to do with football? Particularly one that has no physical banking branches. SoFi acquired the naming rights of a football stadium located in Inglewood, California, in 2019.
The stadium happens to be the house of not one, but two NFL teams—Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
This partnership offers SoFi double the amount of exposure and publicity within the NFL.
The publicity could help SoFi gain more customers and improve its revenue over the long run. The bank fell along with the rest of the market, losing nearly 80% of its market value.
But the price has been trading in a range since May 2022, which could point to the formation of a bottom. The stock is currently trading nearly 80% below its all-time high.
Are NFL Stocks a Good Investment?
Stocks that stand to benefit from the National Football League (NFL) could be a good seasonal investment for both fans and investors alike.
The NFL is the most popular sport in America, with as much as 75% of all sports fans in the country following it.
The sports league is also a large-scale commercial activity that generated close to $17 billion of revenue for the teams in 2021 alone.
That’s not counting all the indirect ways in which the league generates revenue, such as income for sports bars or unofficial merch. Unlike teams in the European Soccer Leagues, there are no American football team stocks to buy.
For example, soccer fans can buy stocks from their favorite sports teams like Manchester United. The Green Bay Packers is the only team offering NFL stocks, but they are not publicly traded.
Instead, shareholders can buy stock through a special offering which is not an option for most people. The rest of the football teams are privately owned and unavailable in the stock market.
Therefore, if fans want to buy NFL stock, they must find alternative ways to invest in their favorite sport, such as the ones presented in this article.
The success of the NFL could impact the performance of these stocks. However, it’s critical to understand that the performance of the NFL is not the only factor influencing them.
Each of these stocks has its own business model and a number of other variables that impact its performance. Therefore, investors must carry on their due diligence and understand what they are buying.
Now that you know more about NFL stocks, you may consider adding one (or more) of them to your portfolio.