LeBron James is adding another historic accolade to his resume.

This year, the Los Angeles Lakers star will become the fifth professional athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings while active, according to Forbes.

Other members of the club:

• Tiger Woods
• Floyd Mayweather
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Lionel Messi

More than half of James’ earnings — approximately $700 million — have come off the court. He’s earned more from endorsements, memorabilia and media than his playing contracts every year since 2010.

His 2020 earnings are expected to total $95.4 million, with about two-thirds coming from off-court sources. That’ll make him the top-earning player in the NBA for the seventh straight year, though 2016-17 was the only season he took home the league’s highest salary. 

Counted among that career total is his billion-dollar lifetime contract with Nike, as well as 18 years as a Coca-Cola endorser — a deal set to come to an end this year as James is expected to sign a multi-year contract with PepsiCo. 

His other endorsements include AT&T, Rimowa, GMC, Beats by Dre and Blaze Pizza — in which he owns an approximately 10% stake. James also has a 2% ownership stake in Liverpool FC, invested in Lobos 1707 Tequila and founded The SpringHill Company.

If you haven’t been able to secure a PlayStation 5 or next-generation Xbox, that may not change any time soon.

Sony has described PlayStation 5 demand as “unprecedented” and promised more inventory. Microsoft says it is “working tirelessly with our manufacturing and retail partners to replenish Xbox hardware as quickly as possible.”

But both companies’ consoles are still incredibly difficult to find.

“In a lot of ways, they don’t want to satisfy demand initially. They want to have an ongoing gap between supply and demand,” David Gibson, CIO at Astris Advisory, told The New York Times. “They want to have buzz and excitement around it for a longer period of time.”

• Gibson estimates that Sony sold at least six million PS5s through the end of 2020.
• He says that Microsoft sold about three million of the Xbox Series X and S.

Some scalpers are using “purchase bots” to buy consoles quicker than humans can. Walmart said it blocked more than 20 million bot attempts to buy a PS5 in one 30-minute window.

COVID lockdowns also closed factories at the same time demand for remote devices rose with players at home.

Despite the inability to meet demand, Microsoft’s console launch was its most successful ever, and the company’s gaming unit had its first $5 billion quarter from October through December.

We’ll find out more about how PlayStation 5 has performed from Sony’s earnings report on Wednesday.

Patrick Mahomes’ $503 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs is not, in fact, the largest contract in sports history. The mantle belongs to a different football superstar. 

Lionel Messi’s contract with FC Barcelona is worth a maximum of about $674 million over four years. The contract includes an annual salary of about $167 million, a “renewal fee” of about $139 million, and a “loyalty bonus” of about $93 million, according to documents leaked to Spanish paper El Mundo.

The 33-year-old star, who has just six months remaining on his contract, reportedly already secured about $619 million of his current deal. European soccer clubs aren’t subject to the same salary caps as American sports teams, so contract numbers often go unreported.

Mahomes’ then-record-breaking 2020 deal took the top spot from these previous monster contracts:

• Mike Trout — 12 years, $426.5 million with the Los Angeles Angels
• Canelo Alvarez — 5 years, $365 million with DAZN (exited in November)
• Mookie Betts — 12 years, $365 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Bryce Harper — 13 years, $330 million with the Philadelphia Phillies

The Messi news comes shortly after another report alleged that Barcelona has accrued about $1.42 billion in debt. In October, the club said it had lost about $117 million as a result of the pandemic.

USA Shooting went from practicing inside an abandoned Macy’s to landing a partnership worth millions.

The national governing body’s deal with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan, will help offset its COVID-19 losses and further its Second Amendment agenda.

The college is investing over $15 million in a wide-ranging partnership that includes upgrading its facilities and permission to call itself “the home of the USA Shooting.”

“We believe in developing not just world-class athletes but also world-class citizens that are going to be supporters of the broader shooting sports and our Second Amendment rights going forward,” USA Shooting CEO Matt Suggs told The Wall Street Journal.

The partnership is unusual, as Olympics-related entities typically shy away from political ties. 

USA Shooting, which has an annual budget of $6.5 million, wound up practicing in a Macy’s when COVID-19 shut down its Olympic training center for weeks. Under the deal with Hillsdale, which was recently extended for 10 years, it will relocate three major competitions a year to the college and hold various team training camps there. 

USA Shooting has dominated the Olympics, winning twice as many medals as China, the next most-decorated country. It will compete in 15 medal events across the rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines at this year’s games.