The NFL Can Now Claim to Be the Most Competitive League in Sport

It is almost an official slogan for the Premier League, backed by broadcasters like Sky Sports, that it is the most competitive league in the world. Of course, there is some merit to that claim, or at least some argument that the depth of squad strength across the 20-team league is more than in others, especially the top-tier European leagues. 

Yet, when you scratch the surface of the claim, it might not hold up to scrutiny compared to other sports. Take, for example, the NFL, which is often cited as the Premier League’s biggest rival, surpassing it in terms of finances. We can argue that the NFL is much more competitive than the Premier League with several metrics. 

The first thing to consider is the sheer number of different teams that have won the Super Bowl. If we take from the 21st century alone, 13 different teams have won the Super Bowl. In the same era, just six different teams have won the Premier League. Moreover, just two teams – Manchester City and Liverpool – have won the Premier League over the past eight seasons; there have been five different Super Bowl winners in that same timespan. 

The 2025 NFL Season Was Ultra-Competitive 

We can also point to the waxing and waning of contenders across a season. In the 2025 NFL season, for instance, we could cite at least eight teams that were at the top of the markets in the NFL Super Bowl betting odds. It chopped and changed every week, as new contenders came to the fore. The Premier League is often static, usually focusing on a title race between a few teams, and rarely showing anything close to what we witnessed in the 2025 NFL season. 

None of this is meant to suggest that the NFL is better. Moreover, it is simply a way to point out that there are structures in the NFL in place to make it more competitive. The Premier League is dominated by money, with the biggest teams muscling in to buy the best players. Money counts in the NFL, too, of course, yet certain aspects differ to keep teams more competitive. 

The Draft Can Give Weaker Teams a Boost 

Take, for instance, the NFL Draft, where teams select the best players from the college ranks. The key thing about the Draft is that teams pick in order, allowing the team with the worst record in the previous season to get the No. 1 pick, going right through the 32 teams, with the Super Bowl winner getting the least desirable spot. That’s a simplification, but you get the idea. Imagine after the 2024/25 season, Southampton, the team that finished bottom of the Premier League, got to choose the best young player in England to join their squad. 

Getting the No.1 Draft Pick does not guarantee success, but it helps the NFL become cyclical, with teams building up a young roster over multiple seasons before finally getting the tools to become competitive. It leads to eras of the team’s success. For instance, the Kansas City Chiefs were clearly the top team of the last 8-10 years, and the New England Patriots were the team to lead the way before that. The mid-1990s belonged to the Dallas Cowboys. The San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants had golden eras in the 1980s and early 1990s. 

The point, as such, is that the NFL is not as top-heavy as the Premier League. There are big teams that enjoy more support and historical success than others, but there is no equivalent of the Big 6 (Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham) who seem to be the only teams in the hunt for trophies in the vast majority of years. 

Again, we stress that none of this is meant to say that the NFL is better than the Premier League. Yet, as the NFL eyes global expansion, especially in the UK, it has really pushed the mantra that it is the most competitive league, where anyone can beat anyone, and where anything can happen. As a marketing crux, it is proving to be seriously compelling.