One of the names you might not have expected to be mentioned as an up-and-coming business tycoon is former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. Lynch is best known to many fans for his infamous line, “I’m here, so I won’t.” get fined.” He wasn’t always the most agreeable player during his NFL career, especially when it came to the media.
Lynch has had a busy schedule since he hung the cleats a few years ago. He made headlines this week alongside rapper Macklemore for becoming a minority owner the Seattle Octopus the NHL. To celebrate this new venture, Lynch pays tribute to his hometown of Oakland by making donuts with the team’s Zamboni.
But Marshawn’s portfolio doesn’t stop there. Lynch is kind of everywhere when you think about it. Last year he became the owner of the Oakland Roots of the USL Championship Soccer League. Lynch has been a pitchman at Skittles for years, has started his own cannabis company and is even an angel investor in a venture fund. Lynch does too his part in returning to his community in Oakland.
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We’ve seen too many examples of athletes not properly managing the money they make for many different reasons. This could be bad investment advice, family/friends, reckless spending, etc. But Lynch is doing what he can to make sure he doesn’t end up as just another statistic for ESPNs broke.
More current and former athletes finally seem to be learning from some of the mistakes made by their predecessors. Not every player will reach the heights of Michael Jordan or LeBron James off the court (or on it), but every player has an opportunity to secure their future by building a diverse portfolio of businesses like Lynch is doing right now.
For those who are talented, lucky, and fortunate enough to make it into a professional sports league, making money once you get there is easy. Keeping the money is the tricky part it seems. Even NFL players minimum wages earn over $600,000 per year. That doesn’t sound like much when we think about professional sports contracts, but most athletes don’t make $20, $30, $40 million a year.
Regular people, earning much less than these league minimums, invest and find ways to make more money with their money. Athletes can undoubtedly do it too. And while Marshawn certainly earned a lot more than that playing pro ball, he makes sure he’s not fumbling with his bag like so many before him.
