Athletes for pro-sports teams make some of the highest wages out there due to the massive amounts of money that are poured into sports. Many of this funding comes from media companies who sponsor athletes in multi-million dollar deals. However, just because an athlete retires doesn’t mean that his bank account dries up. This isn’t the case for the more business-savvy ones at least. Some retired athletes have managed to keep their paychecks alive and well through various channels. Let’s take a look at the six highest-paid retired athletes.
1. Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan retired in 2003, but still managed to bring in $110M last year. This is thanks to the massive success of Nike’s Jordans, which increased in sales by 14 percent in the previous year, thus bumping up Jordan’s royalty check to $100 million. He also has many other sponsorships, which make up for the rest of his salary, including Hanes, Upper Deck, Five Star Fragrances, and Gatorade. Nike has also announced that they plan to work to increase Jordan’s brand revenue two-fold by 2020. Currently, Michael Jordan is worth $1.1 billion total.
2. David Beckham
Last year David Beckham brought in $65M though he retired in 2013. Much of this is due to his Beckham Brand, which has signed with the British fashion brand Kent & Curwen for a 5-year deal that brings him $8 million each year on top of royalties that come from a new collection that was just launched this year. Additionally, Beckham has also signed a deal with Luneng, which is a Chinese real estate firm, that will bring him in another $5 million each year. Beckham’s income is likely to get even larger when he closes a deal to secure him a Major League Soccer franchise in Miami with hopes of the team starting in 2018.
3. Arnold Palmer
Pro-golfer, Arnold Palmer retired back in 2006, yet still makes a cool $40M. Unfortunately, Palmer has been of ill health in recent years and so did not take his traditional tee shot at the Masters tournament. Nevertheless, Palmer makes a huge income in Asia where he has more than 500 Arnold Palmer stores. Additionally, his popular Arnold Palmer drink makes up for close to a quarter of Arizona Beverage’s revenue.
4. Junior Bridgeman
Junior Bridgeman has not played in the NBA for nearly thirty years, but still brought in $32M last year. Bridgeman played in the NBA for twelve years and made an average 13.6-point each game. During his career, he mostly played for the Milwaukee Bucks as the sixth man. Now Bridgeman makes much of his income in the restaurant business. He founded Bridgeman Foods, which now is a food industry empire that has over 450 franchises such as Fazoli’s, Wendy’s and Chilies. Just last year Bridgeman bought Blaze Pizza to add to his collection of franchises.
5. Jerry Richardson
Jerry Richardson retired way back in 1960. However, he still has a place on this list by making $30M last year. Richardson was only in the NFL for two seasons, with the highlight of his sports career being the time that he caught a touchdown from his opponent in the 1969 NFL title game. Despite his short sports career, Richardson was able to make a fortune by entering the restaurant industry. Additionally, in 1993, he brought football to Charlotte by taking control of the Panthers. Much of his current wealth comes from the restaurants he owns, which are called Bojangles.
6. Kobe Bryant
Bryant just retired this year, but previous to that was the highest paid NBA player for five years in a row. He made $23.5 million between 2014 and 2015, but his $48.5 million, two-year deal that he signed back in 2013 was cut by $7 million in the previous season while playing for the Lakers. This was mainly due to substantial injuries that Bryant sustained which forced him only to be able to play 41 games over the span of two seasons. The NBA champion is sure to be fine during his retirement as he rakes in plenty of dough from lucrative deals that he has with such companies as Hublot, Panini, Lenovo, and Nike. That being said he has stated that he plans to remove himself from endorsement deals in the near future to focus more on investing in businesses.