Shannon Sharpe’s Wallet Takes a $225,000 Hit After Pledging Massive Incentives to US Athletes

In a bid to tip the compensation scales in athletes’ favor, Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson pledged to donate $25,0000 to $50,000 to U.S. track athletes for each gold medal won. The pledge is already proving costly, with reports indicating that Shannon’s wallet has taken a $225k hit so far.

Last week, Sharpe and Ocho expressed their disappointment upon knowing that the US Olympic and Paralympics Committee awards a meager $37,500 if a US athlete wins an Olympic gold.

This was when they made the pledge, and since then, swimmer Bobby Finke, the USA women’s relay team, and the Mixed 4×100 and Mixed 4×400 teams have each earned $50,000 for not only winning gold but also breaking world records in their respective disciplines.

Noah Lyles, meanwhile, is set to receive $25,000 for his gold medal win. The total, therefore, adds up to a whopping $225,000.

While the majority of the fans were proud of Unc for sticking to his words, a few warned the NFL veteran that with the way American athletes are performing, his wallet might take a million-dollar-plus hit.

US Olympic athletes’ terrific outing in Paris might cost Sharpe millions

Before delving into the potential million-dollar hit, it should be noted that Unc and Ocho promised money only to gold medalists in track and field disciplines and to any athlete who broke a world record in any sport. For example, Bobby Finke would not have received money from Unc if he hadn’t broken a world record, despite winning gold.

Now that this has been established, a look at the Olympic 2024 Athletics Schedule reveals that the last track and field finals will be the women’s marathon on August 11. Till then, there will be multiple finals of hurdles, 800m and 5000m races, high jump, and triple jump, among others.

Considering the USA had 26 overall medals in Athletics last season with 7 gold, the 2024 tally is barely at the midway stage with 11 medals in total. So if the USA were to match their tally of the last Olympics, an additional $100,000 is guaranteed spending for Unc. Now, as far as world records being broken are concerned, that’s highly unpredictable.

Based on the current trends, if US athletes manage to break 10 more world records in all sports combined, that’s a further $500,000 dent in Unc’s wallet. So based on these estimates, Unc will be pledging a sum of around $825,000 [$225,000 + $100,000 + $500,000].

Knowing Unc and his patriotism, he would be hoping to spend more than a million dollars in bonuses for the athletes, as that would mean a better showing for America. So, even if fans are worried about his wallet, Sharpe, whose net worth is a rumored $14 million, wouldn’t mind splurging some money.