A professional athlete can make serious bank during their sports careers. However, with a relatively limited career span, many invest in building their own businesses in order to provide a steady income stream long after their sporting career ends.
In this article, we look at five professional sportswomen and men who turned to entrepreneurship, building their own successful businesses.
1. Dr. Wladimir Klitschko
Dr. Wladimir Klitschko is the longest reigning heavyweight boxing champion of all time. However, he has always had entrepreneurial tendencies. He joined forces with his brother, Vitali, a fellow boxer and Mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to establish boxing promotion company K2 Promotions. Wladimir Klitschko also founded a sports marketing agency and the Klitschko Foundation, an organization created to help children discover and achieve their potential.
Dr. Klitschko earned his PhD in 2001, transferring the knowledge and experience gained through more than 25 years in professional sport to different areas of the business world. He helped to establish the Competence Center for Intrapreneurship and the CAS Change and Innovation Management program in affiliation with the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In 2018, he collaborated with Harvard Business School, help support the dissemination of his F.A.C.E. the Challenge method throughout the English-speaking world.
2. Maria Sharapova
Having relocated to the US at a young age, Maria Sharapova had a glittering tennis career, quickly rising through the ranks in women’s singles. Sharapova won the Wimbledon Championships on her second attempt in 2003, defeating long-time rival Serena Williams. She subsequently won four more Grand Slam titles. In addition to her on-court exploits, Maria Sharapova is also a formidable businesswoman. She cofounded high-end candy company Sugarpova in 2012, growing the company over the years, and extending its product range to chocolates, truffles, gumballs, and gummies. The brand focuses its efforts on products made from natural, gluten-free, non-GMO ingredients.
Having studied management and leadership at Harvard, Sharapova naturally transitioned to entrepreneurship following a career-threatening shoulder injury. After her retirement in 2020, she also invested in Therabody, a tech wellness brand, joining the company as a strategic advisor with the mission of helping to grow the brand globally. Maria Sharapova says the ability to bring multiple perspectives to the table is her biggest strength as an investor. She considers things as an athlete, consumer, and entrepreneur.
3. Nolan Ryan
After 27 years pitching in the big leagues, Nolan Ryan branched out after his retirement in 1993, building a diverse family business. His holdings company, Ryan Sanders Sports and Entertainment, incorporates businesses operating in a variety of different industries. These include a community bank, turf company, and cattle farm and meat company.
Today, Nolan Ryan Beef supplies fast-food restaurants and grocery stores across Texas, as well as being the official hot dog at Dell Diamond, GlobeLife Park, Whataburger Field, and Minute Maid Park. Having accumulated swathes of prime Texan cattle rearing territory since the 1960s, Ryan spends most of his time at one of his three ranches across the state.
Nolan Ryan explains that owning a cattle ranch was something he always wanted to do, and baseball afforded him the opportunity. Recognizing that he needed to do something aside from baseball, Ryan also founded Express Bank and RBank, two community banks. He sold Express Bank in 2005, the bank operating from 10 locations across Texas, with assets of over $500 million.
4. Kobe Bryant
Just two years after concluding an extraordinarily successful 20-year career with the Lakers, five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant addressed 2,000 students on the topic of entrepreneurship. At the event, which was packed wall-to-wall, Bryant told the attendees to ask themselves what was truly going to get them up in the morning and keep them up at night. He explained that when they found the answer to that question, they needed to commit to it.
At the time of his death on January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant was in the process of expanding his already considerable business empire that comprised a multimedia production company, investment firm, and more. Bryant had established himself as an astute business leader, turning a $6 million into $200 million within a few years through a savvy investment in the BodyArmor sports drink company. He also became an author and Academy Award-winning filmmaker through his California-based production company, Granity Studios, also earned him the opportunity to be an author and developed Academy award-winning content.
5. Venus Williams
The older sister of fellow tennis ace Serena Williams has partnered with her sibling several times to invest in several enterprises. They are both minority shareholders of the Miami Dolphins and UFC, a mixed martial arts empire.
In addition, Venus Williams also runs her own interior design company as well as putting her name to a line of activewear and sunscreen. Having gone pro in 1994 at the age of just 14, Williams reportedly earned some $42 million through the course of her career in professional tennis, a sum she is believed to have doubled through endorsements and savvy investments.