Because this ranking is based on income, it seems that the first position of the NFL is unshakable from now on. The NFL Super Bowl final can be said to be the most important sports event in the United States. Their half-court performance is comparable to the domestic Spring Festival Evening, and their influence on American football is far greater than that of basketball.
However, under Stern's leadership, the NBA knew that football and baseball could not be surpassed in China, so Stern took an international route in another way. After decades of development, it has been very successful, and now its influence in the world even exceeds that of the NFL.
Moreover, after several salary negotiations, the annual salary of NBA players is also the highest in several major leagues, which also drives more children to choose basketball instead of football, so NBA is on the rise in the four major leagues.
However, after Stern left, Xiao Hua took office, the level was far less than Stern's, and the current form of NBA was a bit bad.
In China, due to the limited space, the development of basketball is much better than rugby and baseball. At school, basketball is physical education class's first choice, and Yao Ming's success in the NBA makes the NBA more popular in China.
However, apart from China, football is more popular in Europe and South America, while baseball is also very popular in Japan and South Korea. In Europe, not only football, but also rugby are very popular, so the NBA was at the bottom of the four major leagues before. Now, with the development of basketball internationalization, the status of NBA is slowly improving. Now, two competitions are guaranteed, and it may be improved in the future.