Michael Jordan likely made more than double his career NBA salary earnings in 2022 alone — thanks to a decades-old licensing deal.

Nike’s Jordan Brand brought in $5.1 billion in fiscal 2022, and his Airness pockets a reported 5% of that under his deal with Nike. The athlete and apparel company initially linked up in 1984, his rookie year.

• Based on those figures, Jordan may have earned $256.1 million last year from licensing his name to Nike. His net worth is $1.7 billion, per Forbes.
• Jordan Brand revenue hit $4.8 billion in 2021, up 31% from the previous year’s $3.6 billion.
• The NBA legend and owner of the Charlotte Hornets made $90 million in salary over his NBA career.

Jordan Brand earned $19.4 billion in revenue over the last five fiscal years, a fact initially noted by Neon Money Club.

Big Screen Deal

The relationship between Jordan and Nike has been made into a feature film, directed by Ben Affleck, who also plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The story will focus on how Nike’s nascent basketball department signed Jordan in his rookie year, a deal that became perhaps the most lucrative athlete-brand partnership in history. 

The movie, titled “AIR” and produced by Amazon Studios, will premiere globally in theaters on April 5.

The first Grand Slam of 2023 drew better-than-expected attendance with record prize money up for grabs.

The Australian Open reported preliminary figures surpassing the event’s previous record of 812,714 in 2020, despite schedule disruptions due to rain and a heat wave. 

“We thought there would not be as quick a recovery from COVID as there has been,” tournament director Craig Tiley said. 

• The Australian Open broke its single-day attendance mark with 94,854 fans on Jan. 21. 
• It reached the milestone without traditional visitors from China due to border restrictions. 
• Tournament organizers aim to attract 1 million fans per year. 

The Australian Open generated $405.3 million in economic benefit in 2021 and 2022, per Nielsen Sports. Over the past decade, the event has made $2.71 billion for Australia’s economy. 

Big Winners 

This year’s Australian Open — which began the first tennis season without Serena Williams and Roger Federer since 1999 — featured a record $52.8 million prize money pool.

Aryna Sabalenka, who entered as the No. 5-ranked WTA player, won a record $2.11 million for capturing her first Grand Slam title with a victory over No. 25 Elena Rybakina, who pocketed $1.15 million.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open, earning $2.9 million for beating No. 4-ranked ATP player Stefano Tsitsipas, who took home $1.6 million.

German soccer’s governing body is reportedly set to resume discussions on selling a stake in a new media rights subsidiary.

The DFL, which is expected to agree on the talks at a meeting in early February, will consider both domestic and international rights, according to Bloomberg. Conversations were reportedly hindered late last year by the departure of CEO Donata Hopfen. 

• The size of a potential stake, structure, or timeline has not been decided. 
• In August, Bloomberg reported that the DFL was considering selling up to 20% for a package — which could be worth $18 billion — as well as loans or other strategic investment ideas.

Advent International, Blackstone Inc., CVC Capital Partners, and KKR & Co. are reportedly interested in investing in the DFL, which oversees Germany’s top two Bundesliga divisions.

In 2021, the DFL terminated plans to sell a 25% stake in its overseas broadcasting rights following pushback from clubs.

Media Mania

Several other top leagues have sold stakes in media arms in the past couple of years.

In 2022, Ligue 1 sold a 13% stake of its media rights business to CVC Capital in a deal worth $1.65 billion. In 2021, La Liga entered into a $2.3 billion deal for an 8.2% stake in a new company holding the league’s media rights.

Another U.S.-based financial services company has expressed interest in the media arm of Italy’s top soccer league. 

Goldman Sachs is reportedly eyeing an investment in financing Serie A’s media business as the league prepares to sell domestic and international media rights in 2024. Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. expressed interest in investing up to $1.1 billion in Serie A’s media unit.

• Goldman Sachs has yet to disclose how much it is willing to invest in Serie A. 
• The company has reportedly considered an investment since October 2022. 
• Private equity firms Searchlight Capital and Apollo Global Management are also considering investments in the media arm. 

Goldman Sachs’ potential investment in Serie A follows a plan by the league to spin off an upcoming media unit to boost revenue after the league failed to sell a 10% stake worth $2 billion to three investors in 2021. 

Serie A began creating the media unit in October 2022. 

Profits from Overseas 

Serie A — which generated $2.7 billion in revenue during the 2020-21 season, per Deloitte — is looking to triple its overseas media rights revenue.

The league is set to make $658 million from international media rights from 2021-24.

Serie A is still far behind England’s Premier League, which will make $6.55 billion from overseas rights from 2022-25.