NBA player Stephen Curry could be about to become the third athlete in history to become a billionaire—if he can help turn around Under Armour’s diminishing sales.
Key Details
- Curry is a professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors and is widely considered one of the greatest NBA players of all time.
- Outside the court, he has built a prominent investment portfolio for himself, investing in CarMax, JPMorgan Chase, Rakuten, and Google, while opening his own production company Unanimous Media and being the face of Under Armour, The Hustle reports.
- Curry recently signed a long-term contract with Under Armour, with equity, royalty, and incentive deals that could net him more than $500 million, Huddle Up reports.
Why It’s Important
Sports is an expensive yet lucrative business, with the financial side of the industry being an intensive, statistically complicated reality that earns players and franchises billions of dollars every year, as we recently noted. Sports teams’ valuations have skyrocketed in recent years and become a high-value investment asset while streaming companies scramble to buy the rights to sports broadcasting exclusivity.
For savvy players like Curry, the business offers appealing opportunities for brand management and self-promotion. Similar to Nike’s bet on Michael Jordan, Under Armour has set its sights on Curry as an athlete who can be a potential lifetime representative of the brand.
This has the potential to turn Curry into the next greatest name in sports and make himself and the company a great deal of money—as Under Armour sales spiked 350% in 2015 when he won MVP that year. The Hustle notes that his fortune could skyrocket, and his brand compensation from Under Armour could eclipse his sports salary if he and his team can keep up his title as a great player.
Curry has already stumbled in the past, having endorsed the failed crypto exchange FTX prior to its collapse in November 2022. Under Armour has also seen diminishing sales of 59% in the past five years. Curry’s long-term contract with the company speaks to his confidence in possibly turning the company’s sales around.
