Michael Phelps is a new father and a new husband and he’s already making plans for how he’s going to provide for his new family.
He wants to be a businessman. The Michael Jordan of swimming wants to be a Michael Jordan-level mogul, too.
Of course he does.
“For me this is my first time really out of the pool and in the business world,” Phelps told Yahoo! Finance. “It’s a fun, challenging road being able to switch from competitive swimming to now on land and trying to do that. It’s a new chapter, but it’s something I’m looking forward to. Hopefully, I’ll be able to be good at that.
“I always like what MJ did: What he did on the court, and then how he transitioned into business … That for me is like now, with the MP [brand]. I have so many things going through my head at all hours of the night.”
Whatever Phelps dreams up in the middle of the night, his sordid past will make it difficult to become the next Jordan. For while Jordan is a legendary gambler and ladies’ man — he reportedly taught Tiger Woods how to flirt — His Airness always kept his vices mostly out of the headlines.
The same cannot be said for Phelps, whose career has been splashed by high-profile out-of-the-pool mistakes.
Here are some of the highlights:
- In 2004, a 19-year-old Phelps was arrested for drunk driving in Maryland.
- After grabbing a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Phelps was suspended by USA Swimming in 2009 after a photo emerged of him inhaling smoke out of a bong.
- Phelps was again busted for DUI in 2014 after he was caught going 40 miles per hour over the speed limit. Days after the DUI arrest, Phelps checked into rehab.
- After it was announced Phelps was having a baby with his future wife, Nicole Johnson, a transgender woman who claimed to be his ex-girlfriend lashed out on Facebook, saying, “I hope that baby is born free of STD’s. He’s not the safest when pursuing his extra curricular activities outside the girls he is ‘dating’.”
At the 2016 Olympics, Phelps showed off his mended relationship with Johnson, kissed his baby son Boomer, won his 23rd gold medal and then retired from competitive swimming.
Now he’s hoping to continue his run of success by signing up a current swimmer to be the active face of his MP brand of swim gear.
Even if he signs someone amazing such as Katie Ledecky — who turned down roughly $5 million in sponsorships in order to compete as an amateur at Stanford — Phelps has a long way to go before he catches up with Jordan.
The Olympic hero has a net worth of around $55 million, according to Yahoo. Jordan, meanwhile, made $100 million from his Nike brand just in 2015, according to Forbes, and has a net worth above $1 billion.
