Antonio Brown did a great business deal for himself this offseason, forcing his way out of Pittsburgh and getting a big raise from his already lucrative contract when he went to the Raiders. He hopes some people learn from him.
Brown says he hopes to use his social media presence to help people understand their own worth and how to maximize their earnings.
“I want to encourage and inspire people on how to do better business,” Brown told Complex.com. “Talk about 1099s and the NFL and Nike and some of these companies only paying me five percent of my royalties. With my jersey sales, [which are] No. 5 in the NFL, the NFL pays me a million dollars at five percent. How much more are the NFL and Nike making off of me? That’s an extra 9 or 10 million [dollars]. So we’re just going to be educating people on things because I think the public is so outdated with information.”
Brown does not think, however, that many other players are going to be able to take control of their situations the way he did.
“I don’t think the NFL is changing,” Brown said. “I don’t feel like it’s getting better. The thing I was able to do was unprecedented. It’ll probably never be done again. For me to be able to have the same contract, and not even add a year, just add more money, I don’t think that had ever been done. . . . I think what it has done is really inspire players to take hold of their situation, run business better, make business boom, and do the right things in regards to your circumstance. So at the end of the day you can be in the best position.”
Fans may need to be careful about being inspired to follow Brown’s lead: Most people who tried to do what Brown did would find themselves out of a job, not getting a better job.