Endorsements: Sky is the limit for some athletes!

It is no secret that major league professional athletes generate millions and millions over dollars over their playing careers.  It is also not a secret to realize that as time passes and the sports industry becomes larger, it is doing so all while generating bigger money. Although the sports industry is fairly large and there are lots of athletes, they are definitely getting a piece of that revenue. There are seen the reports of the large contracts and endorsement deals, but how are they spending this money? The better question is, are they actually saving any?

There have reportedly been alarming statistics in the past that suggest that the majority (not all) have spending issues and monetary issues. While most of it seems to happen after their careers are over, it generally starts as a downfall during their career. This is not the case for one man that is known around the National Football League as “Beast Mode”. That’s correct, we are talking about none other than the electrifying football player named Marshawn Lynch. Set to reportedly be nearing retirement, the main story surrounding the retirement is not about the actual retirement itself. The hype is all about the amount of career earnings Lynch has saved.

According to a report by Patrick Frye of Theinquisitor.com, Lynch has saved nearly $50 Million dollars in earnings over the tenure of his football career. How did he survive? Endorsements. His endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi, Skittles, Progressive, and Activision have earned him around $5 Million dollars a year outside of football (inquisitor.com).  In comparison to a lot of past and current athletes that is pretty impressive. What this means is that he has lived primarily off of his endorsements deals and saving up his career earnings. This places him in a very comfortable retirement situation.

Although on the other hand, he is definitely not alone in being one of the “smarter” professional football athletes who generate big dollars through endorsements. Kurt Badenhausen states in a Forbes.com article that; “there are nine NFL players who will pull in at least $5 million off the field by Forbes’ count this year” (Forbes.com). Some of these athletes that are included in that list are J.J. Watt, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers. According to the site, Eli Manning pulls in close to $8 million dollars in earnings while Tom Brady generates around $6 million from endorsements with Ugg Australia, Tag Hauer, and Under Armour (Forbes.com). As this trend becomes more increasingly popular we hope that more athletes follow the Marshawn Lynch model: spend your endorsement money, save your career contract earnings.