• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

3

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

3

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Super Bowl 2017

The Surprisingly Small Paycheck Super Bowl Winners Got This Year

By
Kaitlin Mulhere
Kaitlin Mulhere
and
Money
Money
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kaitlin Mulhere
Kaitlin Mulhere
and
Money
Money
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 6, 2017, 12:22 PM ET
Video Poster

Winning the Super Bowl brings a lot of things: gridiron glory, a place in football history, a giant flashy ring.

But a big paycheck?

Not necessarily—at least, not by big-time professional athlete standards.

Postseason pay in the National Football League comes from the league itself, not individual teams or players’ contracts, and every man on the 53-player roster is treated the same. Everyone, from New England’s five-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady down to third string rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett, gets the same $107,000 bonus for winning.

“The league has never wanted its championship to be about money,” says Robert Boland, director of the sports administration master’s degree program at Ohio University and a former agent. “They want it to be about honor and legacy.”

For players earning a league-minimum $450,000 salary, paychecks for postseason games, which started this year at $24,000 in the wild card round, are a pretty little bonus.

But for top players, postseason earnings are chump change. Take Atlanta’s wide receiver Julio Jones, one of the highest-paid receivers in the game. His 2016 salary guaranteed him $13.5 million—or $843,750 a week—during the 16-week regular season. But after three weeks of play-off games and Sunday’s championship, he’ll earn a combined $156,000. (Members of the losing team in the Super Bowl still get $53,000 each. That’s right—the losers earn more for one game than most of America makes in a year.)

Teams that make it to the Super Bowl also receive rings. Winners in recent years have added custom-designed, diamond-studded rings worth more than $30,000 to their trophy cases.

Of course, official Super Bowl earnings are one thing. Endorsement deals are another entirely.

If a player has a big game on football’s biggest stage, he can immediately renegotiate endorsement deals. Going into the 2016 Super Bowl, for example, Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller already had endorsement deals with Adidas and Beats by Dre. But a week after being named Super Bowl MVP, Adidas doubled down and announced Miller would be the face of its FREAK franchise. Later in 2016, Miller starred in EA Sports’ commercial for the Madden NFL 17 video game, and he also became the face of Old Spice. He hit the talk show circuit and performed briefly on Dancing with the Stars. And of course, he came out of a long contract negotiation with the Broncos with a record setting six-year $114.5 million deal.

Boland’s research has even found a correlation between Super Bowl champions and financial success long after their football careers end. Whether you’re earning a living as a sports hero or have spun off your football success into a separate career, being a champion tends to keep you in demand, Boland says.

“The price is going up for everything they’re doing for a long time.”

This post previously appeared on Money.com.

About the Authors
By Kaitlin Mulhere
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Money
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

bezos
Personal FinanceNew York City
Jeff Bezos on Zohran Mamdani’s big mistake: ‘When you don’t know how to solve a problem, create a villain, blame them’
By Nick LichtenbergMay 20, 2026
2 minutes ago
lucas
Conferencesdiscrimination
Trump’s EEOC chair is suing The New York Times because ‘we should bring it on behalf of white workers too’
By Nick LichtenbergMay 20, 2026
9 minutes ago
Dr. Bernice A. King
NewslettersMPW Daily
What the DEI rollback says about corporate values, according to Dr. Bernice King
By Emma HinchliffeMay 20, 2026
12 minutes ago
electrical transmission lines hang over a housing development on March 24, 2026 in Sylmar, California.
EnergyElectricity
2025 was a turning point for your electricity bill and it’s just getting more expensive from here. It’s not just data centers
By Tristan BoveMay 20, 2026
30 minutes ago
Prices at the pump hit $4 a gallon in all 50 states—just as summer driving season begins
Energygasoline
Prices at the pump hit $4 a gallon in all 50 states—just as summer driving season begins
By Jordan BlumMay 20, 2026
34 minutes ago
arielle patrick
AIWorkplace Innovation Summit
A senior comms exec says your AI notetaker could be your company’s biggest liability
By Jake AngeloMay 20, 2026
34 minutes ago

Most Popular

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
21 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
8 days ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
3 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 19, 2026
1 day ago
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
Travel & Leisure
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
By Rio Yamat and The Associated PressMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
Personal Finance
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
By Courtney Vinopal and HR BrewMay 18, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.