How Much Can Michael Phelps Expect to Earn from His Gold Medals?

With all the gold medals flying around Michael Phelps, I started to wonder "how much will he make from all of this?" A couple articles today work at answering the question. Here's the first from Yahoo Sports:

Peter Carlisle, who leads the Olympic and action sports division there, told The Wall Street Journal in a story Monday he expects Phelps’ current earnings of between $3 million and $5 million a year should at least double, or more, because of his performance in Beijing.

“What is the value of eight golds in Beijing before a prime-time audience in the U.S?” Carlisle told the paper. “I’d say $100 million over the course of his lifetime.”

$100 million, huh? But that's from his agent, so what do you expect him to say?

Here's a more balanced perspective from MSNBC. They say he'll make a good amount (of course) but that he'll be limited because swimming isn't exactly the most popular sport in the world:

Had his talents been applied to a different sport, he might have ended up as one of the top 10 most marketable athletes in the U.S. No doubt Phelps will earn $10 million or so in the next year from his heroics — a record among swimmers — but stars like Woods and other athletes will remain the top medalists in the marketing game.

Of course, $10 million alone is a HUGE number -- and that's just in the next year. I think we can rest assured that he'll be financially secure as long as he spends/invests his money wisely.

Comments

[Kevin]

If he's currently making $3 million I bet he'll at least triple that. I assume all of this is from endorsements? I don't remember any commercials he's in except the Visa ones I've seen during the Olympics themselves. Certainly new companies will be lining up for his services now.

I think that "from the Olympics" he gets $50k from the US for each gold, and Speedo said they would give him $1M if he got all 8. So that is $1.4M for his performances in the pool this week alone. There is obviously more for endorsements and his other professional races, and it remains to be seen how much it will affect his career over his lifetime.

The only thing he needs to do is marry that swimmer who likes to cook so he doesn't have to go out to eat for every meal!

[Mel Moitzen]

Not that a few million dollars here and there is anything to sneeze at--but it's a sad commentary that somebody so superior at his sport is looking at possibly making as much hundreds of average major league baseball players.

[monsterman]

You have got to be joking! Micheal Phelps cannot be worth $100 million or be able to earn that much especially in this current economic climate. What company will be willing to dish out that much during this period of economic contraction. Moreover, yes, I agree that Michael did perform an awesome feat by winning eight, but that's just a swimming feat, not a feat in the realm of science, medicine, or technology where through capital and development he can have an earning potential of millions if not billions of dollars. Those that do pay Michael that much money are really out of their mind. I am not going to buy a product or use a product because a swimmer is going to be hawking it.
The best that Michael can ever earn is maybe $10 million if that. He is not charming or suave or charismatic or really good-looking to go beyond swimming, such as movies, acting, performing, etcetera. He's just a jock and nothing more.
Be real, please.