It’s always about the money, except when it isn’t.

And now, a Seahawks fan could be rewarded with the trip of a lifetime … in his last hours of freedom before he goes away on gun charges.

After Jermaine Kearse hauled in the game-winning touchdown in overtime of the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, the Seahawks wide receiver flung the ball into the stands, where it was caught by a fan named Scott Shelton.

The 32-year-old, who hails from Monroe, Wash., rejected a $20,000 offer to sell the ball to a Washington memorabilia dealer, and said he instead planned to give the ball to his children or return it to Kearse.

“My phone rings, and it was Jermaine! Jermaine Kearse, you know? The Man!” Shelton said, according to KOMO, Seattle’s ABC affiliate. “We were just talking about the game. He told me he wanted to trade his game helmet signed by the team and his jersey, for the ball. And then he asked me what [else] I wanted for the ball. And I said, ‘Honestly, it would be nice to go see you guys whip New England in the Super Bowl.’ So he’s going to see what he can do about that. But I told him I wouldn’t give it up unless it was going to him. I wouldn’t want anyone else to have it.”

A big-game getaway to Glendale, Ariz., may not be feasible — the big house calls. At 2 p.m. the day after the Super Bowl, Shelton, who has two young children, will begin a several-month jail sentence.

The Snohomish County (Wash.) District Attorney’s office confirmed to The Post that Shelton will be imprisoned for unlawful possession of a firearm.

According to the Monroe police department, in February 2013, a search of Shelton’s residence turned up several firearms. A second warrant was obtained for nine firearms, which included an AK-47, an AR-15 and a stolen 12-gauge shotgun.

Shelton was arrested the next month and charged with nine counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree, plus possession of a stolen firearm.