We don’t yet know how much money Tim Tebow will make on his rookie contract. But he sure does have a lucrative side business signing autographs.
Tebow appeared at an autograph signing in Florida today and -- for the second time this month -- charged $160 apiece for his signature. The Palm Beach Post (which, in a questionable journalistic decision, signed on as a sponsor of the event) reports that about 900 people showed up.
At $160 each, 900 autographs would generate $144,000. Not bad for four hours’ work -- and that’s about $100,000 less than he generated last time he charged $160 for his signature. And we haven’t even gotten to the photographs, which were another $75 apiece.
The Post reports that Tebow wrote a $50,000 check for the Tim Tebow Foundation, which will in turn give money to orphanages and the Boys & Girls Clubs. The Post doesn’t tell us how much money the Tebow Foundation is giving away, how much the Tebow Foundation is keeping, how much Tebow himself is keeping, or how much the event organizers -- a company called Palm Beach Autographs -- are keeping.
The Post also doesn’t say how much it spent to sponsor the event. Whatever it was, the paper is clearly happy to be in the Tebow business: The Post‘s story is written in such a way that the reader is made to feel like Tebow provided a wonderful service during his four hours signing his name today.
There’s only one athlete in America who can charge $160 for his autograph and come away from it looking like a saint, and that one is Tim Tebow.