Ray Rice arrives with his wife, Janay Rice, at a hearing in November of 2014. (USATSI)

The NFL world was rocked on Sept. 8, 2014 --  the Monday after Week 1 -- when a video of then Ravens running back Ray Rice assaulting his then-fiancee Janay in an elevator of a New Jersey casino.

Watermarked in the middle of that video? "TMZ SPORTS" -- the gossip site's sports arm broke the news, released the video and sent the NFL reeling (admittedly into a better place where the league was forced to address domestic violence as a very real issue). 

TMZ pretty clearly paid for the video and now we know how much: More than $100,000.

According to a fascinating profile of TMZ in The New Yorker by Nicholas Schmidle, the site received multiple tips (stemming from security guards at the casino) about the video.

In February of 2014, TMZ first posted a video of Rice dragging Janay's limp body out of the elevator. Per The New Yorker, the site paid $15,000 for it:

According to a former TMZ photographer, the site paid fifteen thousand dollars. TMZ would not discuss payments, or other internal matters, but called this figure overblown.

Rice was suspended two games by the NFL on the heels of this evidence. 

The second video, posted in September, was far more costly (emphasis mine):

Then, on September 8th, TMZ published a second surveillance video from the Revel. This one, bought for almost ninety thousand dollars, revealed what occurred inside the elevator: after the doors shut, Rice punched Palmer on the left side of her head.

It was far more shocking too, showing Rice striking Janay and immediately earning him a release from the Ravens and an indefinite suspension from the NFL.

The entire article is worth a read, because the rise of TMZ as a major media entity in today's world is pretty fascinating. (If you like reading about the media anyway.) 

But the bottom line is, well, the bottom line: TMZ can make inroads on stories others can't because it's willing to spend money to pay for videos.