They don't call him the Greatest of All Time for nothing. Michael Jordan wasn't just the greatest basketball player to ever play in the NBA according to most everyone with an interest in the sport, he was a cultural phenomenon. Jordan changed everything about what it meant to be a superstar athlete. He had his own shoe named after him, which in time would become one of the strongest brands on earth and a status symbol in its own right. He's been merchandised in every imaginable way, appeared in movies, and had his own cartoon show (alongside Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky), and was on a poster in millions of kids' rooms for over a decade.
So you'd imagine he's made a lot of money outside of the $90.24 million (source) he made in contract money from his player salary. But how much he's made in endorsement deals since he retired? That will blow your mind.
Jordan's suing a now-defunct chain of grocery stores for improper use of his likeness in an advertisement, and as part of the proceedings, his lawyers have released his endorsement earnings over the past fifteen years in court documents. From the Chicago Tribune:
Jordan, wearing a brown-checked sport coat and brown slacks, sat with his chin resting on his left hand and showed no emotion as his attorney, Fred Sperling, outlined during a half-hour opening statement the staggering sums that corporate America has continued to pay Jordan since his 2003 retirement. Nike paid Jordan $480 million between 2000 and 2012, he said. He has also received $18 million from Gatorade, $14 million each from Hanes and Upper Deck, and $10.6 million from fragrance company XEL.
Source: Michael Jordan's mega-deals revealed as federal trial begins - Chicago Tribune.
That comes out to $536 million over 12 years, or on average $44.7 million annually. That's over twice what LeBron James made last year as a max free agent. Oh by the way, Jordan is majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets which were valued at $725 million last year by Forbes. Jordan made the Forbes list of billionaires earlier this year, and they reported he earned about $90 million last year alone.
So just to go over things, that's:
$90 million from actually playing in the NBA:
(Photo by Walter Iooss Jr., Sports Illustrated)
$18 million from Gatorade:
$14 million from Hanes:
$14 million from Upper Deck, which produces trading cards, a concept unfamiliar to most kids in 2015:
And of course, lest we forget, $10.6 million from the company that produced this (which you can still buy on Amazon):
I've seen it in stores, but never smelt it. I can only ask: does it smell like money and unstoppable ambition?
The Gatorade one is pretty stunning. A company that produces an active-athlete sports drink paid $18 million to a retired basketball player. And all this money doesn't cover any business Jordan himself owns, or from the money for deals since 2012 like his deal with 2k Sports for NBA 2K.
So yeah, on top of being the GOAT, you might also call Jordan the ROAT. Richest Of All Time.
