Michael Jordan vs Tom Brady Net Worth Comparison 2022: Who is the Richer Sporting Legend?

published

Here is all you need to know about the net worth of two sporting superstars and legends of their respective game. You will know who is richer among Michael Jordan and Tom Brady.

There are very few sports fans in this world who don’t know who Michael Jordan and Tom Brady are. Both of them are widely regarded as the greatest players to ever play their respective sports.

tom brady michael jordan
Image: Getty Images

Jordan is famous for his basketball legacy while Tom Brady is known for his football legacy. However, they have their differences. Jordan dominated the NBA for 15 seasons and finally retired back in 2003. On the other hand, Brady is still an active player in the NFL and currently, he began his 23rd season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Further, Jordan has six NBA championships under his name while Brady owns seven Super Bowl rings. It is quite obvious that they are popular personalities with a massive fan following. Throughout their glorious careers, both Jordan and Brady have earned a lot of big contracts which equals to big amount of money.

Let us see who has the greatest net worth among these two elite athletes. Is it Jordan or is it Brady?

Is Michael Jordan the richest basketball player ever to play in the NBA?

michael jordan tom brady
Basketball – NBA – Charlotte Hornets v Milwaukee Bucks – AccorHotels Arena, Paris, France – January 24, 2020 Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan during a pre match press conference. (Image: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

While playing for the Chicago Bulls, MJ became the greatest basketball player ever. Jordan has a long list of records while playing the Bulls. His talent didn’t come cheap and needless to say, Jordan was well-paid in comparison to other NBA players. So much so that, during Jordan’s final season with the Bulls in 1997-98, Jordan’s had a massive contract that earned him around $33.1 million annually.

Compared to today’s NBA contracts, Jordan’s contract at that time was not far off. Recently, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors broke MJ’s record when he earned $34,682,550 in the 2017-18 season.

Moreover, in today’s NBA, many players are getting huge multi-million-dollar contracts. For example, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets just signed a $272,020,000 contract for over 5 years. This means he will earn an average of $54,404,000 per year.

However, after adjusting to inflation, Jordan’s then contract amounts to a massive $55.2 million today. This amount is more than Curry’s contract and also more than Jokic’s contract.

So, it can be easily said that Michael Jordan is one of the richest basketball players to ever play in the NBA.

Michael Jordan Net worth and endorsements

It is quite obvious that the greatest player of all time will have a large net worth. You might be surprised, but the majority of MJ’s net worth didn’t come from his NBA salary.

In his NBA career, Jordan played only for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. While playing for these two teams, Jordan earned around $90 million alone from salaries.

Meanwhile, Jordan established himself as quite the brand and thus had loaded endorsements deal. His major endorsements included that of Nike, Hanes, and Gatorade. Out of all these endorsements, Nike gave him his own brand which is known as ‘Jordan’ as of today.

His brand ‘Jordan’ performed well and made MJ richer every day. In fact, Jordan is still earning from his endorsements.

Further, after retiring from NBA, Jordan bought majority shares of the NBA team, Charlotte Hornets. As an owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Jordan earns $100 million yearly. Jordan is also a stakeholder in a NASCAR team.

All of Jordan’s endorsements, ownerships, and sponsorships have acquired MJ a whopping net worth of $1.7 billion as of 2022.

Tom Brady Net worth and endorsements

Michael Jordan Tom Brady
TAMPA, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 27: Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on during pregame warm-ups prior to a game against the Baltimore Ravens at Raymond James Stadium on October 27, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback alive and there’s no debating that. In his long NFL career, Brady has won the NFL Super Bowl seven times.

For the majority of his career, Brady played for the New England Patriots. To be precise, Brady played for the Patriots for two decades. With the Patriots, Brady won six Super Bowl rings. Next, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won his seventh Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers in 2021.

It is quite easy to predict and say that a player of Brady’s caliber will obviously receive a heavy salary from the concerned franchises.

While playing for the Patriots, Brady earned a salary of about $235 million over 20 seasons. Next, when Brady signed for the Buccaneers in 2020, he signed a two-year contract worth around $50 million. He also had a further $9 million in incentives.

However, after his contract ended, Brady again renewed his contract with the Buccaneers. In 2022, Brady signed a 1-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers which has a worth of $15 million.

This 45-year-old quarterback also enjoys various endorsements deals. He has endorsements deals with Aston Martin, Subway, Under Armor, etc. to name a few. Brady is also quite the entrepreneur. He has founded three companies named Autograph, BRADY, and TB12 Sports. He earns good money by being a shareholder of these companies. 

All the salaries, endorsements, and ownerships have acquired quite the net worth for Tom Brady. As of 2022, Brady has a net worth of $250 million.

Who is the richest athlete among Michael Jordan and Tom Brady?

There is a clear winner among these two great athletes. Michael Jordan wins the war of net worth against Tom Brady by a huge gap.

Although, when compared to Jordan, Brady has earned more in salaries while playing in the NFL. It must also be kept in mind that Jordan belonged to the NBA and comes from a different era.

Jordan’s business ventures and endorsements has given him a net worth which is humongous when compared to Tom Brady’s net worth.

More NBA news

Follow our dedicated NBA page for instant NBA news and updates