March 27th, 2009 
Sujeet Patel 
Posted in 
Tom Brady and his lovely supermodel bride can breath easier now! I’m sure they had been worrying about how they were going to pay for their recent nuptials. But have no fear! Help is in the mail.
As part of the collective bargaining agreement extension in 2002, a fund was created – the “performance-based pay fund” – and it is used to supplement the players’ salaries and it is based on a comparison of playing time to the player’s salary. So how does a player become eligible to receive this compensation? They have to play ONE official down in the season.
No, you read that right. All a player has to do is show up at his job on a Sunday (or Monday or whatever day of the week that their game is), step on to the field for ONE snap and their in! And the more downs they play, the more money they can earn. And how much can they earn? Well remember- it’s based on performance in relation to salary. Matt Cassel? He earned a $238,160 bonus.
Gay Guyton? $213,128. They were the top two earners on the Patriots. And our friend Tom Brady? Well you might remember that he went down pretty early in the season so his check is a little smaller. His take? $121. Maybe it will play for a bottle of wine at the wedding.
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