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Broncos outside linebacker Baron Browning is heading into a contract year. The fourth-year pro out of Ohio State hopes to prove himself worthy of a significant raise on his $3.116 million salary this season.
But before Browning, 25, takes the field Sunday in Seattle for Denver’s Week 1 matchup against the Seahawks, he’s already earned a nice payday. Not from a roster bonus or new endorsement deal, but rather a new-age sports stock market. Browning is set to receive $522,720 after the closing of an initial public offering on Vestible, a startup trading platform focused on athletes.
Vestible struck its first deal with Browning in December. He will forgo 1% of his future on-field earnings in the NFL, beginning this season. That money—$31,116 in 2024—will be paid out monthly to shareholders of Browning’s stock, $BDBR, which was available to purchase at $10 per share during its IPO that went live in March after Vestible gained approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The IPO officially closed Friday, with retail and institutional investors buying 65,340 of the 100,000 shares available. Browning is keeping 80% of the $653,400 that was raised.
Future Planning
For Browning, it’s effectively a six-figure cash advance. “He’s just betting on himself,” Vestible co-founder Parker Graham tells Front Office Sports. Browning, a third-round pick in 2021, made $3.47 million in his first three years in the NFL, and had 4.5 sacks last season. His play this season will dictate his demand on the free agent market, where effective pass rushers can easily earn between $10 million and $20 million annually. (The 49ers’ Joey Bosa leads the way at $34 million per year.)
If Browning makes less than $52.27 million (of which his $522,720 IPO payment is equal to 1% of) from this point forward in his NFL career, he’ll come out on top of the Vestible deal, no matter what. If he makes more than that, he could still come out ahead, pending potential gains from investing his IPO payment. “You’re monetizing and trying to leverage that future value right now,” Graham says.
Vestible’s cut of the money raised from the IPO is 5%, or $32,670, and the remaining 15%, $98,010, goes toward paying for any audits or fees from the SEC or Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Crowded Space
Browning is getting a better deal with Vestible than, for example, Fernando Tatís Jr. got with Big League Advance. When the now two-time MLB All-Star was a teenager, he agreed to an undisclosed deal with the company, which offered roughly $50,000 for every 1% of players’ future earnings. In 2021, Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres. But in his case, the company keeps the portion of future earnings, not shareholders, like Vesitble.
Graham and his fellow co-founder Yves Batoba believe Vestible can find success because its stock prices are simply tied to supply and demand around buys and sells, compared to using manipulated markets around a player’s on-field stats. “It’s a true investment,” Batoba says. “It’s not crowdfunding. It’s not charity or anything like that. There has to be, hopefully, an ROI that comes as a result of it.”
The majority of Vestible investors have not put all of their money into Browning’s stock, which may not be the platform’s sole option for long. Batoba and Graham were at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas pitching players on joining Vestible. They hope to have a dozen professional athletes on the platform by the end of the year.
