While we wait for the end of August to come back we are always searching for new and interesting things to research in the off season. Today we are looking at the numbers in the NFL. Not the statistics but rather the payday numbers.
In 2014 Roger Goodell’s compensation came out to $26 million dollars which compared to 2013 when he made $35 million dollars in total compensation. These last two years makes him the highest paid of anybody in the NFL (excluding owners of teams). As reported by Dan Kapan of Sports Business Journal the compensation breakdown is as follows:
Base Salary $3.487 million
Bonus & Incentive Pay $31.114 million
Other Reportable Compensation $341,000
Retirement & Other Deferred Compensation $34,000
Nontaxable Benefits $41,000
Not a bad payday. So how does this compare to the rest of the league? Well not including endorsements the top 6 highest paid players are all quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers the state farm guy raked in $22 million just from the Green Bay Packers, Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons is the second highest paid player with $20,750 in 2014. The Denver Broncos Peyton Manning is the 5th highest paid player at $19.2 million but he is the wealthiest player in the league with a current net worth of $165 million. Peytons wealth stems from a long career with the Indianapolis Colts and his business ventures, which includes ownership of several Papa John’s pizza restaurants and sponsorship deals.
The reason for such an increase in overall payments comes from a complex dissertation and explanation of the labor market and supply and demand factors that can be read about here that explain the rises in wages through the years and how payment disparity is explained by the law of diminishing marginal utility.
. From the corporate NFL side however it is ran like a business and not a non-profit according to David Michaels of Sportsinforamtiontraders.com.
The wealthiest quarterback from the NFL is a shocker however. Roger Staubach with a current net worth of $600 million. While playing for the Dallas Cowboys got him his head start his wealth grew thanks to his position as executive chairman for the firm Jones Lang LaSalle. As a backup plan to football he got into real estate and he scored a big touchdown on that drive.
Other generous paydays coming from the NFL’s headquarters in New York have the general counsel Jeff Pash earning 7.5 million dollars in 2013, Steve Bornstein, the former E.V.P. for NFL Media with $5.18 million dollars and Eric Grubman the executive vice president of business ventures with a payday of $3.828 million dollars.
*Federal law required the NFL to disclose the compensation of its key employees as part of the league office’s tax-exempt status. Next month the reports on 2014 compensation will be released.
