Olympics fans have been riding on a Michael Phelps wave since he began winning his eight gold medals in Beijing and breaking world records. But sporting the gold isn't a new thing for Phelps — he won six medals in Athens four years ago, and has been collecting about $5 million a year in endorsement checks from VISA after that impressive, teenage performance.
The 23-year-old Phelps has proven his talents have gotten better with more experience and advertisers are now paying even more attention. David Harrow of the National Sports Lawyers Association predicts "he may be at $30, $40, $50 million a year in endorsements after all this is said and done." It may not be $87 million like Tiger Woods, but I could definitely think of a thing or two to do with that kind of cash flow.
Phelps has made his mom and America proud and inspired young swimmers worldwide to believe in their sport. His medals and flush endorsement deals show that hard work (and a swimmers body) can pay off big-time.
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love him!!!!
1good for him, cuz most olympians make sh*t money!
2wow - i think that it's impressive how much you're able to make from endorsements - but i guess he deserves it. the Tiger number it a bit low though - isn't he over $100 mill? anyway, i think that phelps is set for a while and can really relax and take care of things. just imagine being 23 with that kind of money.
3Sad thing is, it's going to take a whole lot of PR magic to make him memorable. His name really only comes up in the news every 4 years or so. So while he is a good investment while the Olympic buzz is in the air, what happens in 3 months when we've moved on to American classics like football? The weird part of it all, is that the news media is only talking about how much money he is worth. That's not a story that will last, make people cling to him as an idol, or give him the recognition he rightfully has earned. In some ways, I wish people would just find the human interest story in him, not the dollar signs. Because he is a good person, a clean cut boy who was told he wasn't going to make much of himself...and look what he did. That's more interesting than how much VISA is going to pay him.
4he clearly worked hard and accomplished what he had wanted
550 mil a YEAR (from endorsements only) is a lot for a swimmer though; even lebron james is only making around 10 mil a year from NIKE
don't olympians get bonuses for winning gold medals as well?
P.S. i hope he dates some celebrity soon; then we'll see/hear more from him in the not-olympic years
6I agree GeriAnne1932.
The human interest story is for more compelling than the "how much Michael Phelps could probably be worth". It's going to take a minor (read MAJOR) miracle to get America interested in swimming during the non-Olympic years.
Michael has achieved the ultimate personal success, and I would love for a man that comes off so humble, and endearing of his mother and sisters, to make it in the big world of endorsements. He's certainly the kind of athlete that you would want a person to look up to.
PS: Please nothing "Hollywood" for Michael Phelps...I can foresee that being an inevitable down fall.
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