All Articles Tagged "professional athletes"
Lucky 17: The World’s Highest Paid Black Athletes
Tiger Woods should feel extremely blessed. What other athlete could lose several sponsors after a very public sexual scandal, have a near 20 month winless streak on the golf course, and have their annual earnings plummet $50 million over the past two years, yet still be ranked as the highest paid athlete in the world? Yup, it’s true, according to Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paid athletes. Athlete’s earning figures were derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months ending May 1st. Out of the list of 50, 17 black athletes made the cut for being some of the highest paid in their respective sport. Do any of these ranked surprise you?
Michael Redd
$18.8 million
Getting Pro Players Ready for Retirement
(Black Enterprise) — As the NFL’s Vice President for Player Engagement, Troy Vincent is charged with helping players prepare for life after football. His biggest challenge, he says, is simply getting those players to listen. A former All-American at the University of Wisconsin and a Top 10 pick in the 1992 NFL Draft, Vincent played in five straight Pro Bowls, was twice named All-Pro, and suited up for four different franchises before finally retiring, after 15 successful seasons, in 2006. Despite his experience both on and off the field, the ex-defensive end has found it to be no easy task helping players adjust to life off the gridiron. Though the league is dedicating ever-greater resources to Vincent’s initiatives, and players are given ample opportunity to pursue any number of educational opportunities during their time in the game, the simple fact remains that most don’t start thinking about their post-football lives until it’s too late.
Debate Continues Over NCAA Pay for Players
(The Root) — Joe Schad of ESPN is reporting that one day after Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said his conference members had discussed the concept of paying student athletes more than the scholarship money awarded now, several other power brokers in college football weighed in on the topic. Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said, “Something has to give on this issue. Universities justify spending tens of millions of dollars on coaches’ compensation, with a seemingly insatiable appetite for more growth. At the same time, a small fraction of that amount is spent on all scholarships for all student athletes. Unless the student athletes in the revenue-producing sports get more of the pie, the model will eventually break down. It seems it is only a matter of time.”
More Than Just Athletes: 10 Business-Minded Players
By Gresham Harkless
Athletes make more money than a lot of people would ever dream of in their lifetimes. Even with these large contracts, however, there is no guarantee that after their playing careers have ended, these men and women will hold on to their wealth. But rather than leave their futures to chance, some athletes balance what they do on the court or field with business endeavors. The Atlanta Post takes a look at ten African-American athletes from the present and past that easily transition from their jumpsuits to business suits.
Carmelo Anthony
While Melo’s childhood dream of playing for the New York Knicks may have had nothing to do with money, the opportunity is likely to prove lucrative. His move from Denver to New York is going to open up countless endorsement opportunities. One of the first came in the form of a 128-foot Boost Mobile billboard mounted two blocks from Madison Square Garden. One day after Anthony was traded, VH-1 announced that they would air a reality show featuring Anthony and his wife La La Vasquez. Melo is also signed to Michael Jordan’s Jumpman brand.
Miami Heat Star Sues Ex Over 'Basketball Wives'
(AP) — Miami Heat star Chris Bosh is suing the mother of his child for appearing on a reality TV show called “Basketball Wives,” which he said intrudes on his private life. L and intruding into his private affairs. He acknowledges he and Mathis have a child together. The suit says Mathis was hired to appear in the third season of the VH1 reality show and wants to use it to become a TV star. Bosh seeks damages and an injunction to block her and the media company from trademark infringement by using his name and disclosing private facts about his life.
A Reverse in Gains: 10 Athletes Who Have Gone Bankrupt
We’ve all played this game: “If I were rich I would…” Travel the world? Start a business? Quit my job? No one ever says, “Squander it all,” despite the fact that this happens often. In a recent article, 15 Athletes Gone Bankrupt, CNBC reminds us how pervasive a problem this is among sportsmen. The NBA estimates that 60% of players go broke within five years of retiring, and according to a 2009 Sports Illustrated finding, 78% of NFL players could be classified as bankrupt or financially distressed, within two years of leaving the job. The Atlanta Post takes a look at the ten African-American athletes that made CNBC’s list.
Mike Tyson
After serving 3 years on rape charges, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson returned to the ring. It wasn’t long, however, before he bit a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear off, in one of the most disgraceful incidents in sports history. His career never rebounded and when he filed for bankruptcy in 2003, an extravagant lifestyle, pet tiger, $9 million divorce settlement and back taxes had not only succeeded in absorbing the $400 million he’d earned, but left him with a $27 million tab.
NFL Lockout in Limbo
(New York Times) — A federal judge gave N.F.L. players a significant victory Monday, granting an injunction to stop the league’s six-week-long lockout. The league filed a brief Monday night asking United States District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to stay her decision so that it does not have to open for business immediately. If the stay is not granted by Nelson or the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the N.F.L. will have to put rules in place that would allow players to return to work and free agency to open within days. If a stay is granted, the N.F.L. will remain dormant while owners appeal Nelson’s decision. That would probably keep the league shut down until at least mid-June and perhaps into early July, about a month before teams usually open training camps. A final decision on the stay is likely to take no more than several days. Late Monday night, e-mails were circulating among players encouraging them to report to team facilities on Tuesday and informing them that if there is no stay, it would be a violation of Nelson’s ruling for them to be turned way.
Game Over: How Con Men Took a Pro Athlete for Everything
(ESPN) — IT WAS THE KIND of sweltering Columbia, S.C., day Corey Jenkins usually spent bringing folks to their feet, legging out a double or snaring a line drive. But on this afternoon, June 1, 1995, the 18-year-old star was earning an ovation at Dreher High’s graduation. After the ceremony, as he made his way through the throng in the Carolina Coliseum, Corey saw James Brown, one of his agents. “The Red Sox took you in the first round,” Brown said. The good news for Jenkins was better news for Brown. He and Darnell Jones, his partner at Summit Management, had big plans for Corey and his cash.
WAIT. STOP. Excuse us as we stand on the brakes and screech to a halt. We’re not going to tell one more story about how quickly and horribly things can go wrong for a young athlete. We could, of course: Jenkins is still putting his life back together, nearly 20 years after he first met Brown and Jones. But you already know athletes get scammed all the time. Michael Vick wasduped while he was facing dogfighting charges and again while he was in Leavenworth. Scottie Pippen just held a giant yard sale after losing much of his $100 million in career earnings to bad investments. John Elway sank $15 million into a hedge-fund Ponzi scheme.
A full rogues’ gallery of shady agents and financial advisers have populated sports pages over the years: Luigi DiFonzo, Marc Dreier, Robert Allen Stanford, Triton Financial, Kirk Wright. And the big picture never seems to change: In 2009, Sports Illustrated found 78 percent of NFLers were either bankrupt or under severe financial stress within two years of retirement, and 60 percent of NBA players were bankrupt within five. In 2002, U.S. News & World Report reported that 78 NFL players had been defrauded of a combined $42 million over the previous three years.
Venus Williams Gets Juiced
(Business Wire) — Jamba Juice Company (NASDAQ: JMBA) and Venus Williams announced today the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to form a joint venture to develop up to five Jamba Juice stores in the Washington D.C./Maryland marketplace over the next two years. The venture will also provide a platform for a long-term relationship, which would provide Ms. Williams’ organization with the certain exclusive rights to franchise the Jamba Juice brand throughout the Washington D.C./Maryland marketplace. The terms of the arrangement are expected to be finalized within the next 60 days and the first store to open later this summer. The two organizations’ goal in establishing this partnership is to leverage the strength of their respective brands to promote health and wellness in the D.C. area and to work together to help promote lifestyle changes to fight childhood obesity. In addition, the expansion of Jamba stores in this marketplace will help promote economic development and provide job opportunities for local residents.
How One Company Tapped Into Michael Vick’s Battered Image
(Wall Street Journal) — With the national media buzzing about sports-related concussions last year, Unequal Technologies figured it would be easy to generate publicity about its impact-absorbing sports equipment. But after pitching media outlets for several frustrating months, executives could hardly grab a headline. Then, in November, the manager of controversial Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick phoned Unequal Chief Executive Rob Vito. Mr. Vick, who had been wearing retrofitted Unequal football pads all season, wanted to be Unequal’s official spokesman.
Mr. Vito—who had been involved in fitting the player with the specially tailored equipment—was intrigued, but his advisory board was skeptical, sparking a heated boardroom discussion. “One of our consultants said we would be committing ‘business suicide’ if we hired Michael Vick,” Mr. Vito recalled. “We’re a small company. We can’t afford that kind of backlash, where a package’s Sporting Goods or a Modell’s says, ‘Hey, because you have Michael Vick, we’re not going to carry you in our stores.’ “Even with Mr. Vick’s brand tarnished from the highly publicized dog-fighting scandal— which landed him in jail for a year and a half and prompted companies, including Nike and Coca-Cola, to drop him—Mr. Vito sensed an opportunity. If the sporting world could be made aware that Unequal’s football pads had helped Mr. Vick’s spectacular comeback from a rib injury, it could help Unequal attract orders from NFL teams and football moms alike. Ultimately, he was able to convince his company to sign Mr. Vick.
