American football’s NFL has unveiled global online payment service PayPal as its official peer-to-peer (P2P) payments partner under a multi-year deal.
Through the agreement, PayPal will provide payment services across the NFL ecosystem.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
As an official NFL partner, PayPal P2P customers will have access to benefits such as entering exclusive sweepstakes for tickets, upgraded seating, and exclusive experiences.
In a further fan engagement initiative, PayPal will also launch a series of sweepstakes awarding up to $1 million to fans throughout the season and key moments like the NFL schedule release, international games, and the flagship Super Bowl.
Tracie Rodburg, senior vice president of global sponsorships at the NFL, said: “As a global leader in peer-to-peer payments, PayPal is helping fans create new experiences and connections.
“This partnership, which covers the NFL ecosystem, including flag football across multiple international markets and promotion of the NFL Flag College Showcase at Draft, is the perfect fit.”
The NFL has announced several major commercial deals in the financial space in recent weeks, including a multi-year partnership with US Bank earlier this month, making it the league’s official bank and wealth management sponsor.
The league has carved up its financial services sponsorships from one category into three. In late March, credit card company American Express came on board as its official payments partner from the 2026 season to replace Visa.
The combined value of the US Bank and American Express deals is understood to be worth more than the previous Visa contract. American Express is reportedly paying between $910 million and $950 million over seven years.
The league’s banking rights were not available for more than 30 years. The deal with US Bank quickly filled a void left by Visa, whose sponsorship rights expired in March after three decades of partnership, the second-longest such relationship in league history behind only Gatorade, which first partnered with the NFL in 1983.
Visa served as the financial services partner of the NFL, but also owned all associated categories, including peer-to-peer banking and retail banking, which Visa passed through to North Carolina-based Truist Bank.
Ben Volk, senior vice president and general manager of PayPal Consumer at PayPal, said: “The NFL operates at the center of a massive, always-on fan economy, with constant payments happening between fans.
“We're uniquely positioned to power that ecosystem at scale, enabling seamless cross-border payments while unlocking new, exclusive ways for our customers to engage with the game that only PayPal can deliver.”
The NFL continues to add brands from the financial sector to its commercial portfolio, with deals already in place with Intuit as its financial and accounting software sponsor and Rocket Mortgage as its mortgage partner.
In terms of other recent NFL commercial activity, last month, the league announced a global agreement with US-based multi-national conglomerate Kraft Heinz that will see some of the world’s most recognizable food brands marketed across the league.
PayPal, meanwhile, is expanding its presence in sports and last year secured a deal with Liverpool to become the English Premier League soccer club’s official digital payments partner.
