The National Football League is basically printing money at this point with all the revenue it brings in on a yearly basis, and the Detroit Lions and the rest of the teams in the league are benefitting big time.
According to Kurt Badenhausen and Lev Akabas of Sportico, the NFL cut the Lions and the other 31 teams in the league a whopping $404 million check for the 2023 campaign, which comes from a revenue-sharing pot of $12.9 billion. That's an astounding $30 million more than each team made in 2022.
And it may even be higher than that, as teams reported four different totals with $402 million, $404 million, $418 million and $425 million. Sportico settled on the $404 million for their article, though.
On top of the $404 million check, teams received an additional payout of $20 million, which comes from a general pool of ticket revenue generated by teams.
That $404 million payout is up 115% from where it was a decade ago and is expected to rise at a similar rate over the next decade. If that holds true, NFL teams could see a check worth over $800 million by the time 2033 rolls around.
The NFL recently lost a lawsuit surrounding its "Sunday Ticket" service that could see the league pay out a whopping $14.39 billion in damages, which equals out to $449 million per team.
The vast majority or all of that price tag can be paid with just one year's revenue sharing money, something that is staggering to think about.
