Someone told me recently that Tiger Woods is the first-ever sports billionaire. Why not Jordan? I guessed that Jordan signed his licensing deals earlier on, so they may not have been as favorable. Or perhaps a year of golf tournament prizes add up to more than a year’s worth of basketball salary. And basketball doesn’t appeal to bankers, so Jordan never got licensed for much beyond sports gear, cereal, and toys, while Woods reps for Nike, Cadillac, and Accenture.
While in 2004 Woods ranked as the top-paid athlete, pulling in $10M directly from golfing plus $70M in endorsements, Jordan certainly isn’t doing badly. He was ranked fourth, at $35M/year, — all in endorsement revenues, since he’s been retired for some time now. $35M/yr is not bad for a retired guy.
Secretly Ironic 