American Express will replace Visa as the official payment partner of the NFL starting with the 2026 season. For a company that has long built its image on exclusive access and experiences, this is a logical extension of its sports business and a chance to reach a core of the most loyal fans of one of the world's most watched sports.
But at the same time, it's not just about the logo on the pitch. The partnership is designed to bring tangible benefits to cardholders, strengthen fans' attachment to the Amex card and demonstrate whether the company can turn an expensive sports contract into measurable revenue growth and customer loyalty.
What exactly is Amex gaining
The deal gives Amex $AXP cardholders priority access to advance ticket sales, special on-site experiences and other benefits at select NFL events in the U.S. and abroad. This includes the Super Bowl, NFL Draft, international league games and other "marquee" events where Amex plans branded zones, priority entries and promotions.
As a first swallow, Amex is opening early-access to pre-sale for the Los Angeles Rams - San Francisco 49ers game in Melbourne in September 2026, the first ever NFL regular season game in Australia. The partnership fits into Amex's broader expansion in sports: the company now has over 50 contracts with leagues, teams, arenas and major events around the world and is now the official payment partner of MetLife Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the New York Giants, Jets and Atlanta Falcons.
How much money is involved and why the NFL was on the hook
Noofficial terms have been announced, but according to the Sports Business Journal, the deal is a seven-year contract worth roughly $910 million to $950 million - or roughly $130+ million per year. That's roughly 2.5 times what Visa, which had been an NFL partner since 1995 and decided not to renew the contract after 30 years, was paying for the same category.
For the NFL, it's a net boost in sponsorship revenue, plus the ability to separately monetize other financial categories like retail banking or peer-to-peer payments that were previously bundled with Visa $V. For Amex, it's an expensive but strategic entry into the biggest sports business in the U.S., where fan loyalty often translates into payment card choices.
What American Express hopes to get out of this
Amex has long built its brand on exclusivity - "membership" is supposed to bring access to things others can't. The NFL deal extends that story to the sport with the highest viewership in the US.
The company can promise three main effects from this:
image enhancement and acquisition channel: fans who switch from another card to access pre-sales and league-related rewards because of the NFL Extra Points Amex card benefit
Higher spending: Amex cardholders will be incentivized to pay with Amex at stadiums and around NFL events (merch, travel, hospitality), which raises transaction volume and fees for Amex
Deeper data on premium customer behavior that overlaps with NFL audiences (corporate hospitality, high-spend segment), which can be leveraged in other products and partnerships
On the product side, Amex is set to launch the NFL Extra Points American Express credit card issued by Comenity Capital Bank in the US this year to reward NFL-related purchases - from tickets to merch to travel. This creates a direct channel for the company to monetise its fan base outside of game time itself.
Possible scenarios
1) Partnerships as a growth engine
The NFL still has the highest viewership in the US and the league is aggressively expanding abroad - London, Frankfurt and now Melbourne. If Amex can systematically use presales and experiences as a magnet for new clients, the NFL could become one of the most important acquisition channels for premium and co-branded cards, especially in the US and select markets. In such a scenario, an annual investment of around $130 million can pay off in the form of higher fees, interest income and client loyalty that competitors (including Visa) cannot replicate.
2) Brand "must-have" but financially only neutral
The more moderate option is that the NFL deal will boost brand perception, but the benefit in numbers will be more spread out - hard to separate from the entire Amex sports portfolio, which already includes dozens of leagues and events. The partnership, then, fulfills a primarily marketing role: Amex is "visible wherever there is something going on", but the return on an individual contract cannot be accurately calculated. In such a scenario, the bottom line is that the NFL simply must have an Amex - because if it weren't there, the space would be occupied by competitors.
3) An overshot bet on a crowded advertising market
The pessimistic scenario assumes that sports marketing in the United States is already so saturated that the next big contract brings dilution rather than enhancement of the effect. The NFL is full of partners, fans are overwhelmed by promotions, and a portion of the audience additionally watches games in environments where Amex benefits are not relevant (international streaming, secondary ticketing). In addition, if the league's growth abroad does not meet expectations, a seven-year, nearly $1 billion contract could retroactively appear to be an expensive ticket into a space where Amex is hard to differentiate from the competition.
What this means for the league and for Visa
For the NFL, the arrival of Amex is a clear demonstration of strength: after thirty years, it was able to replace Visa with a new partner for roughly 2.5 times the annual fee and still retain the ability to sell other financial categories separately. The league also fits into Amex's portfolio as a global brand - which is important for international matches and building the NFL as a global sports brand.
Visa loses a long-standing "hero" contract but gains the freedom to redirect marketing money elsewhere - to the Olympics, football, digital payments and fintech, where it may be more strategically positioned. So it is essential for investors to watch whether Amex's NFL partnership will bring a visible acceleration of acquisition and spendy on key cards, or remain primarily a symbol that Amex belongs to the clubs of brands that can afford the most expensive sports rights in the world.