With $5,000,000 on the Line, ‘Shrewd’ Tom Brady Beats Shaquille O’Neal in the Race for a ‘Pickleball Revolution’

NFL superstar Tom Brady will go down as one of the finest athletes in the history of mankind to ever step on a football field. After all, not many quarterbacks can say that they have won more Super Bowl titles than any single franchise in the history of the competition.

Moreover, along with excelling at his favorite game, the 7x Super Bowl champion made a number of highly lucrative investments too. Although his FTX investment yielded poor results, the star QB still has a lot of assets up his sleeve which are day by day adding immensely to his net worth.

Tom Brady got the better of Shaquille O’Neal in the Pickleball ownership game

One big investment which Brady made last year was in Major League Pickleball. Looking at the rapid pace at which the new racquet sport was gaining popularity in the States, Brady, along with Tennis star Kim Clijsters, led by Knighthood Capitals, became a part of the MLP’s expansion program.

The league was eyeing to improve the number of teams in the competition from 12 to 16 when the NFL legend came into the picture. As of now, the competition has 24 teams with 96 players. In addition to this, the league is set to give out a total prize money of $5 million in the 2023 season.

Needless to say, Tom stepped in at the right time as Pickleball is now one of the fastest growing sport in the US with around 36.5 million players. While other athletes like LeBron James, Draymond Green and Kevin Love also latched on the opportunity to invest in Major League Pickleball, gentle giant Shaquille O’Neal is still only thinking about putting his money in this sport.

In December last year, along with Alonzo Mourning, Shaq sat down for a chat with CNBC. After expressing his opinion on a variety of topics, when the two stars were asked to comment on Pickleball, Mourning had claimed that the sport is designed for older individuals and he would like to stick to basketball only.

However, reflecting on the same issue, Shaq had a different response. “I’m actually looking at investing in a (pickleball) team. I’m still thinking about it,” the NBA star had stated. However, till now, there hasn’t been an update regarding Shaq investing in MLP.

Shaq has emerged as one of the smartest athlete turn businessmen in recent times

Along with his prowess to rule the game on the court, Shaquille O’Neal is also known for being a clever businessman. Worth a handsome $400 million at this point, O’Neal has invested in Papa John’s, Krispy Kreme, Big Chicken, Ring, NRG E-Sports and even Google.

In fact, not long ago, Shaq also came out with a cookbook titled, Shaq’s Family Style: Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends. Indeed, the man knows the market better than most athletes which is why, he has been able to add enormously to the heaps of green he earned while throwing hoops.

However, it seems like Shaq wasn’t as quick as he should have been when it came to investing in Pickleball.