John Madden Net Worth – Turning Misfortune Into Fortune

John Madden Net Worth is $200 Million (as of 2019)

You gotta love these stories of obstacles, misfortune and eventual victory far greater than what could have been reasonably expected if everything went smoothly from the beginning! With net worth of $200 million John does much better financially than most glorious football players. For the sake of comparison, Ronaldo’s net worth is estimated at “only” $150 million, Kaka’s net worth is $90 million and maestro of French football Zinaddine Zidan is worth $70 million. Only two football professionals do better than John Madden:

Quick facts

• David Beckham with his mind blowing $330 million and
• Dave Whelan with $210 million, which is actually pretty close.

John Madden started really long ago as a football player back in 1950s, showed a great deal of passion and talent but… never even got the chance to play professionally because of unexpected knee injury.

Imagine if you were so close to doing what you love and are passionate about and then something like knee injury happens and you are forced to make other plans, how would that make you feel? The answer for most is devastated. We will not claim that we know how John Madden felt at the time, but there is a great possibility that he is no different than vast majority of population and felt devastated too. What is different about John, however, is that he decided to go with second best. No, he will not be a football player, he will be a football coach now!

His career as a football coach worked out great. He has set several records, won a Super Bowl and never had a losing season as a head coach. Despite people like Bug Grant , Don Shula, Tom Landry and Chuck Noll were considered top coaches in 1970s, John Madden had a winning record against them.

After retiring as a coach at the end of 1970s he began to work as a sports commentator and event analysts. He had his absolutely unique authentic style of doing things, which not only won the hearts of football fans but also fourteen Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst! But, as you may guess, all these achievements will not bring $200 million, so there must be something else and… there is.

Because John Madden was not afraid to be himself and express his passion and excitement during the game freely, he created a popular brand-like image. And, whenever you become a brand, something that people love and recognize, you have many new doors opening for you. Whether you are a skateboarder, TV personality or a rapper, once you become famous enough you can do tons of things that bring you money, like creating your own clothing line, giving your celebrity endorsements or writing books. In case of John Madden, however, he landed his voice and personality to series of football video games back in 1988, which only seemed to grow in popularity with every passing year. His latest deal where he licensed to use his character and voice for another year was worth $150 million.

Now think about that, we do not hear much about football players who were popular back in 1980s, leave alone even earlier when John Madden wanted to play the game. However even in 2012 someone was ready to pay John, who was 76 at the time, $150 million just to use his likeness and voice. Thought provoking, to say the least.

In addition, John appeared in many radio and television commercials which made him even richer.

Here is old 1988 commercial for ACE Hardware:

And here is another interview with John, which dates back probably to around 2007

Here is John’s profile at Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Is John Madden Dead or Alive?

What do you think about John Madden’s net worth? Leave a comment below.