NFL mascots make between $50,000 and $65,000 per year. Considering that the NFL generates over $20 billion in annual revenue, those figures really seem like breadcrumbs.
The average NFL mascot salary is merely a suggestion of the figures that the top-paid mascots earn. Our BetZillion team has come up with the highest NFL mascot salary list to give you a definitive answer below.
After going through some records, we’ve figured out that the lowest NFL mascot salary is in the range of $50,000 to $65,000. Based on what we’ve found, mascots like Sir Purr for the Carolina Panthers or Viktor with the Minnesota Vikings get paid closer to the $50,000 line.
Steely McBeam, Poe, and Miles from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, and the Denver Broncos get paid around $55,000 to $60,000.
To give you a bit of perspective, that’s only around a tenth of what Rocky the Mountain Lion of the Denver Nuggets in the NBA clocks, with an annual salary of around $625,000. Here’s an overview of the top-paid mascots:
Rowdy the cowboy is perhaps the best representation of what the Dallas Cowboys stand for in Texas. It’s a synonym of a Texan, and he’s been there ever since the 1990s. He wears a double zero on a jersey and keeps the crowd at the AT&T Stadium engaged for a salary of roughly $65,000 yearly.
Pat Patriot of the New England Patriots shares the top spot at our NFL mascots salary list. He’s also one of the longest-standing mascots, having been there since the time of the Boston Patriots in the 1960s.
He tops the highest NFL mascot salary list with $65,000 per year, which is exactly how much Rowdy the Cowboy makes. Together, these two share the main stage as the highest-paid mascots.
If you’re wondering how much mascots make in the NFL per game, it depends on various factors, such as how far a team goes in the postseason. In general, each team plays 17 games, coupled with 13 games in the playoffs, if a team potentially makes the Super Bowl.
With that in mind, we could say that a theoretical NFL winner plays a total of 30 games. If we take the $50,000 figure as the lowest salary, that leads us to the result of $1,666 per game. On the other hand, mascots like Rowdy and Pat Patriot make well over $2,160 per game.
One of the major factors that determines how much NFL mascots get paid a year is the market popularity. For instance, Rowdy of the Dallas Cowboys might earn a bit more, up to $65,000 per year, but the Cowboys also have the biggest attendance in the NFL, with over 90,000 seats filled per game.
On the other hand, teams like Tampa Bay or Chicago have the lowest attendance, and these are generally not the most popular NFL markets. So, it’s no wonder that their mascots earn significantly less, within the range of $50,000 to $55,000.
Now that we’ve gone through all the details about how much NFL football mascots make yearly, it’s time for the grand reveal – the highest-paid mascot overall is Rowdy. He’s been consistently reported to earn over $65,000 for the past few years, so it’s very likely that this is a real figure.
We’ve cross-referenced our findings from various sources, and they all seem to indicate the same salary. Rowdy is being closely followed by Pat Patriot, who also checks out with multiple sources.
Besides the highest salaries, NFL bettors are also often curious about the lowest NFL mascot earnings. According to our research, the mascot with the lowest annual earnings is Sir Purr of the Carolina Panthers.
It’s somewhat to be expected, given that Carolina isn’t exactly the most popular NFL market. Along with Sir Purr, other mascots like Viktor of the Minnesota Vikings and Freddie Falcon of the Atlanta Falcons also reportedly earn around $50,000.
As mentioned, mascots of other teams in different sports, like Rocky the Mountain Lion of the Denver Nuggets, earn significantly more than NFL mascots. Rocky is said to be the highest-paid mascot in sports with a salary of $625,000 per year.
That’s why punters all over the world wonder if the pay structure for NFL mascots is right. For some context, the NFL generates over $20 billion in income every year, and mascots do get some screen time, and they’re a vital part of each game. So, perhaps they’re not as fairly paid as mascots in some other sports like the NBA.
