Bengals Fans of the World, Unite!

Hey, do you hate Mike Brown? Here's a quick quiz to find out:

1. Mike Brown
a) is the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals
b) is a nice old man
c) sucks

2. My favorite piece of Bengals gear is
a) a jersey
b) a hat
c) a Mike Brown urinal cake

3. Bengals fans who go to the game and buy Bengals merchandise are
a) great fans
b) hardcore supporters
c) sheeple

If you answered "c" to all the above, congratulations, you're a dyed-in-the-wool Mike Brown hater! And today, I've got great news for you: if you really hate Mike Brown, do you know what it's time to do?

It's time to root like crazy for the Bengals to win!

Why? Because the longer the Bengals stay in the playoffs, the more money Mike Brown loses.

NFL teams split ticket revenue during the regular season, with the home team keeping one-third of the gate. That’s not the case in the playoffs, when all of the ticket revenue goes into a pool shared equally by teams. That leaves the home team with only the earnings created by stadium sales — concessions and merchandise.

The league rewards teams that win in the wild-card round with $590,000 if they lose and $650,000 if they win. In the divisional round, each team gets $650,000 to cover expenses; that jumps to $1.01  million for the conference championship game. The Super Bowl winner gets $4.108 million and the losing team $2.878  million.

Teams often will lose as much as the NFL gives them for expenses just on playoff bonus money written into staff and player contracts. Many players have big bonuses for playoff advancement. Teams also face added costs in road games: moving equipment and paying for the travel of sponsors and family members.

So here we are, at the start of wild card week, with an opportunity to unite as fans no matter what our feelings about ownership. So laissez le bons temps rouler!