While it won’t look like it, given the heatwaves that have swept across the United States over the past few weeks, the start of the NFL season is just around the corner.
After the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens open their schedule on September 5, the NFL continues the following night with its first game in Brazil. This match in Sao Paulo is a part of the NFL’s international push that is pushing closer to its goal of creating the NFL an even larger business giant than it already is.
So it makes sense that some of the NFL’s biggest stars are also players in the business world. Marshawn Lynch and Drew Brees come to mind when it involves apparel corporations.
Of course, even for most athletes who have the skills and the fortune to make it to the National Football League, a long profession of multimillion-dollar contracts is out of the query. Players get hurt. Their careers get cut short.
That is why you’ll be able to often hear even successful athletes talking about building their future and the way to make changes once they have finished their sports profession.
In addition to Brees and Lynch, other former NFL players have grow to be highly successful entrepreneurs since hanging up their cleats. Let’s take a closer look at six of those NFL players who became businessmen.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is arguably the biggest, if not the most decorated person to ever play in the NFL. He has set nearly every quarterback record since joining the league in 2000 and retiring earlier this month. He has won seven Super Bowls and defied the clock by playing into his early 40s.
Much of that is because of Brady’s health and training regimen. In fact, he turned that regimen into a sports company called TB12 Inc., which launched in 2013.
Roger Staubach
Roger Staubach played 11 seasons (1969-79) in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, winning two Super Bowls along the way. Toward the end of his profession, he founded a industrial real estate firm, The Staubach Company. In 2008, the firm was sold to Jones Lang LaSalle for $613 million. Not bad for a guy who signed a $25,000 rookie contract.
Gale Sayers
Gale Sayers played seven injury-plagued seasons (1965-1971) for the Chicago Bears. In 1984, he founded Crest Computer Supply Co. Now generally known as Sayers 40 Inc., the company provides information technology products, services and support.
Sayers died in 2020 at the age of 77.
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson shocked the league by retiring in 2015 after nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. A giant a part of his early departure was the injuries he sustained while playing at such a high level.
Johnson decided to be a part of the solution, dipping his toes into the marijuana industry with fellow Lion Rob Sims, launching Primitiv, a Michigan-based chain of dispensaries. He also partnered with Harvard to review the effects of cannabis on CTE and its advantages in pain management.
Rick Mirer
Rick Mirer played 11 seasons in the NFL (1993-2004), although he never quite lived as much as the expectations he had as a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame. After retiring, he helped launch Mirror Napa Valley Winery in 2008.
Charles Banks
Carl Banks played for 11 years (1984-1995), winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. He is currently the president of GIII Sports, a company that has produced licensed apparel for the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and colleges and universities for over 20 years.