Alright, there was a big headline this past weekend when Darren Rovell of Action Network put out a piece that said the NFL disbursed $8.78 billion in revenue to its clubs from the money it made last year. Per usual, there was a little bit of Twitterati outrage. “How much money went to the players?!” “Owners are obviously greedy and not paying players what they deserve” — the paying the players what they deserve may be true, but I’m getting to the point shortly. “This is what’s wrong with football!” Now to the point: that number is what was negotiated in the CBA. If the owners and teams had $8.78 billion disbursed it means that players are getting around $8 billion. Let me explain.

See, in the CBA, the owners get 52 percent of football-related income, while the players get about 48 percent. Argue with the split all you want, but that’s the deal they’ve been playing under since 2011. Using a handy-dandy internet percentage calculator, it means that the total revenue was around $16 billion and closer to $17 billion. That is a whole lot of money, but let’s not pretend the owners getting the $8.78 billion was one-sided. The players got what they negotiated for in the CBA. That’s the deal, and we can argue whether it’s good or bad, but that’s the deal.

The money is mostly fueled by the NFL’s television rights deals. It also factors in online purchases and other things the NFL does to license its IP and make money. The $8 billion number was landed on because the Packers have to file how much money is disbursed. It’s pretty transparent in all honestly. This is how much money the Packers get and under revenue sharing, this is how much money the league makes.

Now, teams are making much more money than what is disbursed by the NFL. Teams can make more money on suites. They can make more money on exclusive partnerships. If the team owns their stadium or parking lot, they can create more revenue that’s technically not football related. The NFL owners are very good businessmen. They can squeeze money water from a money stone. Yes, that’s how good they are. They can make money on things that don’t even exist.

The NFL has bigger goals. It wants to hit $25 billion in revenue. That will be much easier once all their TV deals run out in 2021.