From LeBron to Brady, winning is a different sport

Doriano Rabotti

It may be that boredom is to blame, rather, when you have so much money that you have nothing to worry about, it is easier to choose how to diversify your investments. And if you were or still are an athlete, you automatically think about staying in your surroundings.

Of course, in a world that is constantly changing, as in the sports business, not only the Arabs are shaking things up and changing the face of football at the level of club owners. The phenomenon of recent years is the entry of some champions of other sports into European football clubs. Last in chronological order is Tom Brady: to say that he is the best American football player of all time is an idle exercise, from a discussion in a pub. That he is the most famous is undeniable, and also that he has a lot of money to spend, because after retiring a few months ago, he is enjoying his pension with 375 million that Fox Sport guarantees him to commentate in the NFL in coming years. .

A few days ago, Brady, who has won seven Super Bowls and is worth $300 million, became a minority shareholder of Birmingham City, an English club that plays in the Championship, England’s second division. Brady will serve as chairman of the advisory board and will provide advice on health, nutrition, wellness, recovery programs and marketing.

Birmingham City are an iconic club with such a rich history, being part of the Blues is a great honor for me,” said Brady, who has apparently already started working on marketing… “I have a lot to learn, but I know some “what about winning and I think they are well tolerated,” he added. And here he can not be blamed.

A few days earlier, LeBron James, the leading NBA basketball scorer, spoke about his passion for AC Milan. Red is the color he likes the most, given that a few years ago he also became the owner of Liverpool in a group of well-known investors also associated with RedBird, i.e. Gerry Cardinale, who controls Milan and is partnered with LeBron in another company, Springhill .

The real evolutionary leap lies in a purely financial vision (it remains to be seen whether this is a good thing, but that’s another question): these individuals invest in clubs not because they are passionate, but simply because they see them as a profitable way. invest some of your huge finances. For example, if it was about applause, Lewis Hamilton would not have tried in vain to first enter the property of Chelsea a year ago, and then more recently the property of Manchester United: the Formula 1 champion has never hidden that he was always rooting for ” Arsenal”. ..In the meantime, he invested some of his money in the Denver Broncos, an NFL American football team.

From the sport came swimming ace Michael Phelps, NBA basketball ace Russell Westbrook and golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who bought Leeds shares owned by Italian Andrea Radrizzani, Sampdoria’s current owner.

Other notable examples come from the entertainment world: actors Ryan Reynolds (the Canadian known as Deadpool) and Rob McElhenney bought 100% of Welsh fourth division club Wrexham for $2.3 million. But this is a different case: Welcome to Wrexham became a Fox TV docu-series. Brady’s lesser-known alter ego is JJ Watt, a former NFL player who invested in Burnley after being convinced by his wife, Kialia, who also played for the US national football team.

There is also Michael Jordan, but this is not the one who flew into the basket: it is actor Michael B Jordan, famous for playing the son of Apollo Creed, boxer-dirwal Rocky. Since December last year, he has been part owner of Bournemouth in a group led by American Bill Foley, owner of the National Hockey League franchise in Las Vegas.