Unless I'm wrong no one really knows how much NFL owners profit every year because they are private businesses, with the exception of the Packers. In the NFL there aren't many teams that are putting profit over wins, maybe the Lions. I think they all pretty much come close to using their allotted cap, or else the players/players union complains. But having the cap is how they minimize their expenses to make sure they all turn a profit.
Now MLB is a different story, there are many teams that are in it for the profits and not championships.
What revenue sources are there that are unknown? Tickets and merchandise are known. TV deals are known. Licensing deals (e.g. Madden) are known. The way the league is set up, most revenue sources go into a shared pot (all of the above except tickets, which are shared between the home team and the visitors 60/40). After subtracting some expenses, that money is then distributed evenly among the 32 teams and 48.8% is allocated for the players.
The way the salary cap in the NFL works, players will get their money. If a team spends too little over a period of time (89% over 4 years), the deficit will have to be paid directly to the NFLPA for distribution among players (no idea how). If the teams in total spend too little (95% over four years), the deficit will, again, have to be paid to the NFLPA.
So there's no way players don't get at least 95% of 48.8% of a very well-defined pie, which includes all major sources of revenue with one notable exception - local corporate sponsorships, mainly stadium naming rights. While we don't know the value of every single deal around the league, we do know that the biggest one is the $30 million a year SoFi is paying for the Rams/Chargers stadium. Smaller markets are estimated to get around $10 million a year from stadium naming rights.
Sure, ticket sales aren't included either, but they are 1.25% of total revenue, so not a huge deal.
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