For most players, the thrill of simply playing on the league's biggest stage and competing in the Super Bowl is priceless. Yet that's not the only perk that members of the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will get for reaching the final game of the NFL season.
Super Bowl 49: How much money will the winner earn?
Everyone wins at the Super Bowl, with the losers walking away with nice paychecks simply by showing up in Glendale.
As part of the postseason shares that the NFL distributes, players earn significant financial bonuses based on how far their team advances in the playoffs, with the ultimate payout going to the Super Bowl winner. This year, every player on the 53-man roster of the team that hoists the Lombardi Trophy will receive a cool $97,000. The loser gets a pretty good deal, too, walking away with a guaranteed check of $49,000 for simply being there.
Of course, each player on both teams has already earned a good chunk of extra cash during their respective postseason runs. The Seahawks and Patriots earned a total of $68,000 for winning the Divisional round and Conference Championship games, meaning that the journey from No. 1 seed to Super Bowl champion will pay out a whopping $165,000 this year. That’s a 5.1 percent increase from last year, according to CNBC.com.
Even players who aren't on the team's official roster on Sunday night are rewarded with additional paychecks. For example, anybody who spent between three and seven games on the roster of a Super Bowl participant during the season, and is not under contract to another team in the same conference, receives a half-share of the postseason bonus. That means that someone who was traded by the Seahawks or Patriots midseason -- such as Percy Harvin -- has a big incentive to root for their former team on Feb. 1.
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