New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the king of NFL merchandise and paraphernalia.
According to The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, the 41-year-old Brady earned approximately $2.35 million from jersey, video game, and trading card sales in the 2018 NFL season. Kaplan cited the NFL Players Association’s annual report filed with the Department of Labor.
The report, hundreds of pages long, lists every player in the NFL and how much they earned from group licensing, which is when six or more players are used in the same deal. When there are some smaller group deals, most of the money comes in through the union from Electronic Arts, Nike, and Panini (trading cards) and then is distributed to the players
Brady earned $2.35 million (so the figure does not include income from his solo endorsements, like those with UGG and Under Armour).
Brady pulling in over $2 million ‘is just truly staggering, because he’s been in the same market, selling the same jersey for 17 years,’ said Russ Spielman, president of sports marketing at GSE Worldwide. ‘You see, Peyton Manning moves markets when he did, and you understand when his jersey goes to the top of the sales. But for Tom, I mean, how many more Patriots fans are there that don’t own his jersey at this point, but it keeps going. It’s awesome to watch.’
ICYMI, my first story for @TheAthleticBIZ on Tom Brady, the king of royalties, but not the king of player corporate names https://t.co/enROuXZt5I
— daniel kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) June 17, 2019
The secret to Brady’s market appeal: winning. He’s a six-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP who has shown no signs of slowing down.
If Brady wins yet another Super Bowl title, don’t act surprised if he will lord it over everybody else in terms of player royalty next season.
