How Much Money Do NFL Players Make If They Win The Super Bowl?

Whether you're a diehard NFL fan or a more recent (read: Swifty) follower, chances are you've watched a Super Bowl game at some point. A longstanding winter tradition (played in February since 2004), the Super Bowl can mean big money. It's estimated that consumer spending for at-home celebrations including everything from merchandise to new TVs to food to party supplies for the 2023 Super Bowl totaled $16.5 billion. Plus, not only does the game have the ability to also bring serious money to the region it's played in (the 2023 Super Bowl brought $1.3 billion in economic activity to the Salt River Valley in Arizona), but it can also lead to big financial gains for players on both teams.

From bonus pay to endorsements to future salary negotiations, Super Bowls can benefit players in both the short and long term, regardless of whether their team wins the game or not. Bonuses are awarded to both the winning and losing teams in the Super Bowl and the added attention from fans and brands means the exposure of playing in the Super Bowl can be beneficial to a player's career (as well as their sponsors, chosen charities, and hometowns) even if their team ends up losing. While not all teams or players can capitalize on all of the many financial opportunities surrounding the big game, there is still a lot of money to be made during the Super Bowl.

In case you don't already know, NFL players operate under their own union (the National Football League Players Association) which helps them to negotiate things like pay, healthcare, and even how many games will be played in a season. The latest Collective Bargaining Agreement agreed to by both the players union and the NFL (which was signed in 2020 and is good through 2030) stipulates that players for both teams in the Super Bowl receive a bonus. These bonuses are on a schedule that increases with each year so for the upcoming 2024 Super Bowl, players on the winning team will earn an extra $171,000 each (regardless of playing time), while players on the losing team earn $96,000 each. Even better for players, they must be paid this bonus within 15 days of the game.

With that being said, these bonuses are not paid out in their entirety to every single player on both teams. Different stipulations based on how long a player has been on a team's roster, whether they were injured during the season, and whether they appear on their team's active or inactive lists can all impact the amount a player gets. For instance, players who have been on a team's roster for less than three games before the Super Bowl are only entitled to half the bonus amount. However, actually playing in the game is not a requirement to receive some or all of the bonus.

Just like during the regular season, many NFL players supplement their NFL income through endorsements, sponsorships, and ads. These off-field earnings can contribute to a player's overall net worth and make the concept of marketability especially important. The most marketable current player in the NFL is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes who makes an estimated $20 million in off-field earnings through his collaborations with brands like Adidas, Oakley, and State Farm. Being in the Super Bowl, and especially being on the winning team can go a long way to ensuring lucrative sponsorship deals and contracts for future seasons.

It's also important to mention that players receive bonus pay for every post-season game that leads up to the Super Bowl (including wild card, division playoff, and conference championship games), as well as for participating in the Pro Bowl. This means players are receiving bonuses for other games ahead of the Super Bowl and while these bonus amounts are less than the Super Bowl (for instance, players can expect to receive $54,000 for each division playoff game in the 2023 season) they can still add up in the postseason before ever even getting to the Super Bowl. Plus, let's not forget about the coveted Super Bowl rings that go to championship teams. While the NFL is notoriously vague about cost, it's estimated that a team set costs the NFL around $5 million, and individual rings have been auctioned off for as much as $230,000.