5 Outrageous Sports Endorsements

August 22, 2014 - 8:27 pm by Terrence Watson

Kevin Durant officially announced that Under Armour offered him a 10-year shoe deal worth between $265-$285 Million dollars. Nike has the option of matching the deal, but UA isn’t playing games with this one. If KD takes the new contract, he’d cost the company nearly 10% of it’s annual budget. They’re going for it all, hoping to land the megastar to broaden their international presence.

While we wait and see where the Badd35t player on the planet will land, here’s a list of a few other sports contracts that were up there in them M’s.

LeBron James’ First Nike Contract Before the boy was the man, LeBron James was reportedly worth $90M dollars to Nike when they signed him before he stepped on an NBA court in 2003. The King has since re-signed with The Swoosh, and by 2013 was bringing in $300M off of shoe sales.

Andrew Wiggins $180M Dollar Contract That Wasn’t Andrew Wiggins is the biggest anticipated rookie since LeBron James. That was was evident when the astronomical number of $180M dollar offer from adidas started floating around the blogasphere. Adidas later said that was a rumor and eventually, he signed with Three Stripes for a number that still hans’t been revealed. However, it’s speculated at around $10-12 million a year and is the most any rookie has earned with the brand.

Kobe Bryant Buys Body Armour OK, so the Black Mamba didn’t exactly “buy” Body Armour, but he did purchase a significant amount of the emerging sports drink company. Considering he signed a two-year, $48.5 Million dollar deal with the Lakers and rakes in over $30M annually from his endorsements with brands like Turkish Air, Hublot, Nike and Panini, he had the bread to invest roughly $5M in the company. It’s the first investment he’s made with his new company, Kobe Inc.

Tiger Woods Made Mad Money With EA Sports We’re talking $50M’s a year with the same company that brought you NBA Live and Madden. In fact, up until 2013, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Series raked in nearly $800M dollars over the course of 15 years. Woods and the game development company parted ways in 2013, but their mutual run was the company’s most successful aside from the Madden series.

Michael Jordan’s Last Two Chicago Bulls Contracts Michael Jordan’s the greatest player to ever lace them up on the court, and, since he’s now a billionaire, the GOAT off of it too. Think about it: MJ hans’t played in over a decade, but his retro kicks sell out and his new kicks are now ill enough to cause campouts. In his last two years with the Bulls, Jordan kept signing one-year-contracts worth $30 million-plus. The most he made in one year before that? $4 million (twice: once in 1993 and again in ’94).

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