Jim Irsay Pays Twitter Follower $8,500 For Guessing Score Of AFC Championship Game

Jim Irsay is a man of his word, so when the Indianapolis Colts owner asked Twitter followers to guess the score of the AFC Championship, he was sure to pay off quickly.

For one lucky fan, that meant an envelope stuffed with $8,500 in cash. Yahoo! Sports wrote about the contest, in which Jim Irsay asked followers to make their guess as to the score of the Ravens-Patriots game. The first to reply getting closest to the score (with a one-point cushion for both teams) would get the grand prize.

A fan named Jason won Jim Irsay’s contest by picking the Ravens to win 27-13. It was a bit of an upset pick, as most sports experts favored Tom Brady and the Patriots to win against Baltimore to set up a change to avenge last year’s Super Bowl loss. But it paid off for Jason when Joe Flacco tore up the Patriots secondary and Tom Brady looked quite human in throwing two interceptions, leading to a 28-13 win for the Ravens.

Not long after the game, Jason got a Fed-Ex package stuffed with $100 bills, along with a personalized letter from Jim Irsay. The Colts owner also paid $2,000 to the person who guessed the winner, quarterback rating, and total score of the 49ers-Falcons game. He held a second AFC championship contest, giving $500 to the person who picked the winner straight up.

There is a chance that Jim Irsay’s Twitter contest could backfire on the Colts owner, USA Today noted:

“I’d say an owner giving a fan $8,500 for guessing the score of a game is something that could run afoul of Roger Goodell’s delicate sensibilities, but that’s true of most things, I suppose,” wrote Chris Chase.

Whether Roger Goodell punishes Jim Irsay or not, one thing is very likely — he’s going to see a lot more Twitter followers before the Super Bowl.