The NFL generates more revenue than every other professional sports league in the country, but its Super Bowl winning shares don't reflect that. Each player on the Denver Broncos will be gifted an additional $97,000 on top of his pay for outlasting the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 Sunday. The Panthers will get a bonus of $49,000 for showing up. That's a nice chunk of change, but it pales in comparison to what championship winners in the other major sports receive.
Much like the player salaries in Major League Baseball trump the NFL, so do the championship shares. Each World Series winner gets $370,000 and the loser is handed $300,000. That's more than three times what the NFL hands out.
NBA winning shares are pulled from a "Player Playoff Pool," which is funded by playoff gate receipts and increases as the team advances further in the postseason. Last year, members of the Golden State Warriors got $250,000 for taking home the championship.
Peyton Manning will receive far more than that, as his contract includes a $2 million Super Bowl bonus. Manning already received an extra $2 million for defeating the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship.
But unfortunately for Manning's teammates, their winning shares are far below what their brethren in the MLB and NBA receive.