Professional athletes often look for other ways to make money when they step off the
court or field.
But they don't always make the best decisions in that area.
So let's examine the following athletes who may have just sold their souls for a paycheck.
In 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the worst teams in the NBA, but then they
wisely drafted LeBron James.
Not only was he a once-in-a-generation talent, he was also an Ohio native, making his selection
even more meaningful for Cavs fans.
But after playing in Cleveland for seven years, he decided to ditch his home state and join
the Miami Heat for a contract worth about $110 million.
Obviously money talks, but the way James announced his departure was what made it really controversial.
He sat down with ESPN for a live televised event called The Decision, which lasted no
less than 75 minutes and ended with him saying:
"I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach."
Heartbroken fans burned James' jerseys, and NBA commissioner David Stern called the TV
special "ill-conceived."
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert deemed it "narcissistic," and it was criticized by many, many others
for being in bad taste.
James later returned to Cleveland in 2014, only to leave once again in 2018 for a $153
million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Before he took his big payday, though, he did leave the Cavs with a pretty sweet parting
gift in 2016: their first NBA title ever.
Many people were confused to see ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman buddying up with North Korean
dictator Kim Jong Un.
When he first traveled to the country with three Harlem Globetrotters in 2013 for a Vice
documentary on basketball diplomacy, it was a bit strange.
But then he went back to visit the notorious Supreme Leader a total of five times in four
years.
He even tried to broker the release of an American hostage, all while insisting that
he wasn't there to be an ambassador.
We'll probably never know for sure why Rodman had a sudden affinity for Kim, but maybe it
makes a little more sense when you consider that his trips were sponsored, including by
one company that sells marijuana cryptocurrency.
The money must've helped him, especially since his post-NBA years haven't been kind to him
financially.
After earning $27 million over the course of his career, he is now reportedly worth
just $500,000 following a child support lawsuit worth over $800,000 and bad tips from his
financial advisor.
One of the most high-profile examples of all time of a sellout athlete would have to be
Lance Armstrong.
The pro cyclist shocked the world in 2005 when, as a seven-time Tour de France winner
and well-known cancer research advocate, he tested positive for performance-enhancing
drugs, though he denied it at the time.
By that point, he'd made a ridiculous amount of money in his career, reportedly $125 million
at his peak.
After Armstrong retired, a 2012 report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency accused
him of running an illegal doping program while he was a pro cyclist.
From there, everything started tumbling down.
He lost major sponsorships, stepped down from his cancer nonprofit Livestrong, and was stripped
of his Tour de France titles.
Amidst the scandal, Armstrong also had to pay $20 million in damages for several court
cases before he was hit with a $100 million fraud and conspiracy lawsuit by the federal
government, which he later settled for $5 million.
As the disgraced cyclist admitted to Oprah Winfrey in 2013, he would probably spend the
rest of his life trying to earn back trust and apologizing to people.
International superstar race car driver Lewis Hamilton has been openly vocal about his stance
on environmental issues.
In 2019, for example, he posted on his Instagram Stories,
"Extinction of our race becoming more and more likely as we overuse our resources.
The world is a messed up place.
World leaders either uneducated or don't care about the environment at all."
But as the saying goes, he who lives in a glass house should not throw stones.
Hamilton quickly received criticism for his comments, considering that he still drives,
and travels globally, for Formula One, which has a huge carbon footprint.
And he even signed a two-year, $100 million contract extension with Mercedes in 2018.
In response to the criticism, Hamilton claimed to reporters that his team was aiming to become
carbon neutral.
As he explained,
"It's not the easiest because, yes, we are traveling around the world.
We are racing Formula One cars.
Our carbon footprint, for sure, is higher than the average homeowner who lives in the
same city.
But that doesn't mean you should be afraid to speak out about things that can be for
a positive change."
There's also the matter of Hamiltion's relationship with Monster Energy, as he also previously
inked a massive deal to create a signature drink with the company.
But this might not have been the wisest sponsorship deal, as it's no secret that some energy beverages
have been linked to potentially harmful side effects.
In a long-awaited boxing match that was later criticized for being over-hyped, Manny Pacquiao
lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015 after landing far fewer than the 800 punches that
experts speculated that he needed to win.
Some observers believed that the two fighters delayed the bout to maximize the demand and
raise their compensation.
Mayweather practically confirmed this when a reporter accused him of avoiding the fight
until he had to give in to public pressure.
He responded,
"Why don't you just say I was smart?
Five years ago, this was a $50 million fight for me, and it was a $20 million fight for
him."
Sports reporters criticized the two for selling out the sport.
Nevertheless, Pacquiao drew $120 million for losing the fight, while Mayweather walked
away with $180 million.
And that's not to mention the extra $1 million Mayweather reportedly cashed in for selling
a spot in his fight-day entourage to the Burger King mascot.
Being the highest-paid professional baseball player in the 70s wasn't quite enough for
Pete Rose, whose gambling habit proved to be too tempting to give up.
In his 2004 autobiography, he admitted to betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds,
while managing them.
But while he was straightforward about his mistake, he wasn't too apologetic about it.
As he wrote,
"I'm sure that I'm supposed to act all sorry or sad or guilty now that I've accepted that
I've done something wrong.
But you see, I'm just not built that way.
Sure, there's probably some real emotion buried somewhere deep inside.
And maybe I'd be a better person if I let that side of my personality come out.
But it just doesn't surface too often.
So let's leave it like this [...] I'm sorry it happened, and I'm sorry for all the people,
fans and family that it hurt.
Let's move on."
Sadly, the extra cash Rose got probably wasn't worth the fallout.
Despite all his achievements over the course of his MLB career, he was banned for life
from baseball in 1989 and was denied eligibility for the Hall of Fame.
"How could someone who loved the game so much…"
"That's a good question.
I mean, there was just something missing, other than the game competition."
When Reggie Bush was drafted into the NFL in 2006, he arrived with a lot of hype.
While some criticized him for not immediately living up to expectations, nobody was expecting
what happened mere months after he joined the New Orleans Saints.
In September 2006, Bush was exposed for receiving illegal gifts from sports marketers, such
as hotel stays and a rent-free home for his family while he was a college player at the
University of Southern California.
While the question of whether or not college athletes should be compensated remains a hot
button issue, gifts or payments of any kind are still against NCAA rules.
Pete Carroll, USC's football coach at the time, claimed that the school didn't know
about the residential situations violating the rules, but the acceptance of these gifts
nevertheless put a massive stain on Bush's career.
While Bush voluntarily forfeited his 2005 Heisman trophy afterward, he later publicly
stated that he felt that college players should be paid legitimately by the NCAA.
In 2018, he told Business Insider,
"The universities are making so much money off the athletes.
They're selling your likeness.
Selling your jerseys, bobbleheads, whatever else, blankets, whatever else they can sell,
while you are there for those 3 or 4 years.
The kids deserve more and they should be given more.
They should at least be compensated.
I don't know what the number is but it should be something."
By the time of basketball legend Magic Johnson's 1991 retirement from the NBA, he had become
known for many successful business deals.
Around that time, Entertainment Weekly reported that he was raking in as much as $12 million
a year for endorsements, but many of these deals were supposedly in jeopardy.
If that's true, it may help us to understand Johnson's next, and decidedly less successful,
endeavor as a late-night talk show host.
The Magic Hour started airing just two years after Johnson officially left the league,
and it was in no way as Hall of Fame-worthy as his playing career.
While fans were used to seeing Johnson dominate on the basketball court, the show exposed
his weaknesses when it came to TV presenting.
Within three months, it was off the air.
Despite what we can only assume was a large paycheck, the embarrassment might not have
been worth it.
Since then, Johnson's continued to grow his lucrative empire by investing in countless
companies, at one point owning 31 Burger King restaurants.
Larger-than-life NBA star Shaquille O'Neal has made some eyebrow-raising choices when
it comes to his career outside basketball.
So when he announced that he was joining the board of directors for Papa John's in 2019,
it wasn't too surprising, except for the fact that the company's founder, John Schnatter,
had been ousted for using the N-word on a conference call the year before.
Still, O'Neal committed to the deal, not just as a board member but as an investor, too,
telling USA Today that he planned to purchase as many locations as possible.
He also stepped forward as the face of the brand on nine of the restaurant's locations
by putting "SHAQ" in their phone numbers and showcasing his footprints in their marketing.
Interestingly, while O'Neal has helped Papa John's rebuild its public image, another athlete,
former NFL star Peyton Manning, dumped his franchise ownership just days before the 2018
scandal happened.
However, as O'Neal explained his decision to The Undefeated, he told CEO Steve Ritchie
that the only way he would be involved is if they had some diversity in their leadership.
He called Schnatter's workplace behavior "uncalled-for and unacceptable" and noted,
"I want to be the one to help cultivate a new culture where everyone knows they are
loved and respected."
"When I did this deal, I was thinking about the 800 franchises.
I was thinking about it.
They're my neighbors.
They're your neighbors.
These are people that work hard.
They put up their capital."
You would think an athlete who needs to maintain a healthy body might be more mindful about
endorsing fast food.
But that didn't stop a young LeBron James from taking a McDonald's endorsement in 2010.
The basketball legend later made a hilarious slip-up in a 2015 press interview, which cast
the Golden Arches in a less-than-favorable light.
After a reporter asked at what age he started caring about his body and staying fit, he
responded,
"Twenty-four.
I ate McDonald's my first couple of years in the NBA.
I didn't stretch, I didn't ice.
It didn't matter.
I was 18, I could do whatever I wanted to."
However, he was quick to recover when a reporter gently asked how often he eats McDonald's
now.
"Every day.
Every day.
I just had it this morning.
A good egg-and-sausage McMuffin."
While James stepped away from $15 million in endorsement money from McDonald's in 2017,
it wasn't because he suddenly had second thoughts about endorsing fast food.
Instead, he jumped over to Blaze Pizza, which he discussed on an interview for The Uninterrupted.
"The potential that we could make if we just put the time and effort into it, exceeded
what McDonald's would be guaranteeing me over the next four years."
At the very least, it sounds like the deal made solid business sense.
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