The Kansas City Chiefs were the talk of the 2023 NFL season with Taylor Swift in the stands and the team winning their second consecutive Super Bowl. The buzz and the title were a boon to the bank accounts of the Chiefs’ two biggest stars.
Patrick Mahomes earned $3.6 million in group licensing and marketing revenue during the 12 months through February, according to the NFL Players Association’s annual report filed this week with the U.S. Department of Labor. The tally led NFL players and was up 53% from the previous year, when the Chiefs also won the Super Bowl.
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Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce’s licensing revenue soared 177% to $2.4 million and ranked fourth among NFL players behind Mahomes and quarterbacks Jalen Hurts ($2.7 million ) and Josh Allen ($2.5 million).
Earnings come from all group licensing deals, which include those for multiple players negotiated through the NFLPA, such as video games, t-shirts and trading cards. Players receive royalties based on sales of items like t-shirts.
Almost every NFL player has received at least $32,000 from PA.
In addition to the PA royalty check, Mahomes wins more than $20 million per year from its nearly 20 sponsorship partners, including Adidas, Coors Light, State Farm and Subway. Last year, it added BOSS, T-Mobile and Walmart. His latest venture is a “good for you” coffee brand, Throne Coffee, which released two weeks ago and has Mahomes as the second-largest investor.
Many of the listings in the LM-2 report show LLCs registered to players – Kelce is TMK Enterprises LLC and Mahomes is 2PM LLC. Most of them are easily decipherable or identifiable in corporate records, but Sport was unable to identify the fifth- and sixth-place players, which are shown as MMBOC LLC ($2.3 million) and SACC 1of1 LLC ($2.2 million).
It’s not just current players who profit from group licensing. Peyton Manning came in seventh overall with $2.1 million, double the previous year’s earnings. Rob Gronkowski finished 10th with $1.9 million, just behind Joe Burrow.
Tom Brady has regularly been the biggest licensing earner, including $9.5 million and $6.8 million over the past two years, but TEB Capital Management received a fraction of the previous year’s payments, with just $651,938.
The San Francisco 49ers stars also benefited from the Super Bowl run. Running back Christian McCaffrey made $1.7 million — more than three times as much as the year before, when he was traded midseason to Carolina — and ranked 12th overall. Quarterback Brock Purdy pocketed $710,619, 10 times what he earned the previous year and 82% of Mr. Tight end George Kittle’s $870,000 salary earned $1.6 million.
Aaron Rodgers lasted just four snaps in the regular season with the New York Jets before tearing his Achilles tendon, but fans still gobbled up his wares, earning the four-time MVP $1.6 million. TJ Watt ($808,103) edged his brother JJ ($743,849) by a narrow margin, while the Diggs brothers had Stefon ($562,774) over Trevon ($467,754).
Twenty-two players received at least $1 million in royalties, with Aidan Hutchinson missing the seven-figure mark for just $7,680. Twenty players earned at least $1 million during the 2022 season, led by Brady.
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