LeapComp - Sales Performance Management Blog

I’m sitting at home looking at the count down for the Super Bowl to start. Not because I’m a particularly big fan of the Steelers or of the Cardinals, but because many people asked me if I was going to watch it and I needed to find out when it was going to be on TV. I often get asked what is the biggest challenge for me to work in the United States. My answer is: “converting Celsius to Fahrenheit, crossing US customs, and talking about football”. As a consultant, you can’t underestimate the importance of being able to do small talk with clients.

During the Olympics, I wrote a very popular post about incentive compensation for Olympic athletes. We found out that the United States paid $25,000 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for a bronze. Notice how there is no monetary incentive for athletes who didn’t win any medal.  I was thinking, surely Super Bowl winners must have an incentive to win as well; and there is. I found out the historical bonus payouts here.

Super Bowl - Winner/Loser
I - $15,000/$7,500
II - $15,000/$7,500
III - $15,000/$7,500
IV - $15,000/$7,500
V - $15,000/$7,500
VI - $15,000/$7,500
VII - $15,000/$7,500
VIII - $15,000/$7,500
IX - $15,000/$7,500
X - $15,000/$7,500
XI - $15,000/$7,500
XII - $18,000/$9,000
XIII - $18,000/$9,000
XIV - $18,000/$9,000
XV - $18,000/$9,000
XVI - $18,000/$9,000
XVII - $36,000/$18,000
XVIII - $36,000/$18,000
XIX - $36,000/$18,000
XX - $36,000/$18,000
XXI - $36,000/$18,000
XXII - $36,000/$18,000
XXIII - $36,000/$18,000
XXIV - $36,000/$18,000
XXV - $36,000/$18,000
XXVI - $36,000/$18,000
XXVII - $36,000/$18,000
XXVIII - $38,000/$23,500
XXIX - $42,000/$26,000
XXX - $42,000/$27,000
XXXI - $48,000/$29,000
XXXII - $48,000/$29,000
XXXIII - $53,000/$32,500
XXXIV - $58,000/$33,000
XXXV - $58,000/$34,500
XXXVI - $63,000/$34,500
XXXVII - $63,000/$35,000
XXXVIII - $68,000/$36,500
XXXIX - $68,000/$36,500
XL - $73,000/$38,000
XLI - $73,000/$38,000
XLII - $78,000/$40,000

It’s interesting to see that winners AND losers will earn some money. Every player will receive a minimum of $40,000. With around 52 players on each team, the total bonus amount will exceed 6 million dollars! But in perspective, that’s not so bad…

Interestingly enough, the Steelers had the highest median salary in the NFL at $1.1 million in 2006. The NFL’s average salary in 2006 was 1.4 million.  Since that no matter if a player wins or loses he is sure to take home $40,000, the monetary incentive to win is “only” an additional $40,000… in other words, only an average of a 3% bonus over his base salary.

I’m sure the majority of the players don’t even think about such a “small” incentive during the Super Bowl. If the bonus was bigger, maybe they would think about it more, but even if they did, I doubt it would make a big difference. It’s hard to imagine that anyone making it this far won’t give their 100% during the game.

So if the bonus probably does not affect the outcome, why have it in the first place?  Because that’s how it has been for the past 43 years.  But is that a good reason?