Legacy or money?

[Splendid Splinter]

With Floyd going the distance this past Sunday, it made me think, do most athletes today care more about money or legacy?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Mayweather's a special case. It's ALWAYS been about the money for him. I imagine his thought going into Sunday was "this is such an obvious scam, the people who fall for it deserve to lose their money."

 

[qtlaw]

Its almost about the money because while commentators and fans appear to simply assume that athletes/celebrities have a magical constant stream of $$, in many instances they don't and they need the $$. While say a Jordan obviously does through the Jordan brand and other endorsements, when you think of say Tyson, once he stopped fighting, he got some $$ from the video game (great game BTW), he didn't have investments, etc. that would pay him the tens of millions a year that he was previously making. And I'm sure the vast majority of them will tell you that "legacy" is not putting food on the table and therefore a small consideration for them.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Its almost about the money because while commentators and fans appear to simply assume that athletes/celebrities have a magical constant stream of $$, in many instances they don't and they need the $$. While say a Jordan obviously does through the Jordan brand and other endorsements, when you think of say Tyson, once he stopped fighting, he got some $$ from the video game (great game BTW), he didn't have investments, etc. that would pay him the tens of millions a year that he was previously making. And I'm sure the vast majority of them will tell you that "legacy" is not putting food on the table and therefore a small consideration for them.

Mike Tyson earned more than $400 million just from boxing (and squandered it all). Not the best example.

 

[swingline]

I think Don King probably squandered quite a bit of that.

 

[qtlaw]

Mike Tyson earned more than $400 million just from boxing (and squandered it all). Not the best example.

Actually I think that makes my point, once he stopped fighting, his stream of income evaporated. He (along with most everyone) has a hard time spending only a limited amount of the yearly income as it comes in (make $35M/yr, spend "only" like you're making $3.5M/yr and save the rest). Instead, he spent like he was making $35M/yr then once its gone, he doesn't get to just "retire" wealthy but needs to maintain the $$ stream somehow.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Actually I think that makes my point, once he stopped fighting, his stream of income evaporated. He (along with most everyone) has a hard time spending only a limited amount of the yearly income as it comes in (make $35M/yr, spend "only" like you're making $3.5M/yr and save the rest). Instead, he spent like he was making $35M/yr then once its gone, he doesn't get to just "retire" wealthy but needs to maintain the $$ stream somehow.

Still a bad example. He put himself millions of dollars in debt well before he retired. Throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, he had to be more afraid of the creditors chasing him than most of the boxers he was fighting. He earned another $30 million boxing AFTER he declared bankruptcy.

 

[Chef2]

Floyd would fight a one armed hooker from Queens for 40 million.

 

[Scout]

Does anyone think the fix was in to let Paul go the distance?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Does anyone think the fix was in to let Paul go the distance?

I wouldn't use the term "fix" because it wasn't a real fight.

I believe Floyd could have put him away at any moment he chose to, but that would be bad for business. If Floyd knocks out the fake fighters they put in front of him they'll stop putting fake fighters in front of him.

 

[Scout]

If money is wagered, to me, it’s a real fight.

 

[Sea Bass]

If money is wagered, to me, it’s a real fight.

I get how naive this sounds, but were people actually betting on this fight? There was no official winner, nor was there ever going to be (I thought). What were they betting on?

 

[Songbird]

There were likely prop bets such as KO (and if so, what round/s)) or no KO etc.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Legal sports books could not take bets on it. It was not a sanctioned fight.

 

[JC]

If money is wagered, to me, it’s a real fight.

There was nothing real about it. He held him up at one point. It was an exhibition and a farce.

 

[cjericho]

If money is wagered, to me, it’s a real fight.

Some people would bet money on two cockroaches racing across the floor.

 

[Severian]

If money is wagered, to me, it’s a real fight.

Lunacy. The fight was a farce and another example of why modern boxing should be taken to the back shed and shot in the head.

 

[bigpern23]

To answer the original question, it’s kind of hard to separate the two, meaning that most athletes who will ever have a meaningful legacy are going to make a ****-ton of money anyway.

That said, there are very few who will sacrifice (or even risk) that money to enhance their legacy. And very few would ever have to.

LeBron James is literally changing his jersey number next year to his Space Jam 2 number to make some extra marketing $$$. What’s his legacy? One of the greatest players of all time. He’ll never be thought of as the face of the Cavs, Lakers or Heat. His numbers will never be iconic like 3, 7 or 23.

Had he sacrificed money and stayed in Cleveland his whole career, would his legacy have been enhanced? In fact, it may have been diminished.

I think in the end, the money is the legacy, as they set up their descendants for generations of wealth (ideally).

 

[PCLoadLetter]

To answer the original question, it’s kind of hard to separate the two, meaning that most athletes who will ever have a meaningful legacy are going to make a ****-ton of money anyway.

That said, there are very few who will sacrifice (or even risk) that money to enhance their legacy. And very few would ever have to.

LeBron James is literally changing his jersey number next year to his Space Jam 2 number to make some extra marketing $$$. What’s his legacy? One of the greatest players of all time. He’ll never be thought of as the face of the Cavs, Lakers or Heat. His numbers will never be iconic like 3, 7 or 23.

Had he sacrificed money and stayed in Cleveland his whole career, would his legacy have been enhanced? In fact, it may have been diminished.

I think in the end, the money is the legacy, as they set up their descendants for generations of wealth (ideally).

While I get your main point... LeBron will be the face of the Cavs until they cease to exist.

 

[bigpern23]

While I get your main point... LeBron will be the face of the Cavs until they cease to exist.

Poorly worded. Let me rephrase: He will never be synonymous with the Cavaliers, Lakers or Heat.

Though Jordan played for other teams, he will always be synonymous with the Bulls, for example.