The Juan Soto wealth effect: Soaring athlete salaries attract wealth management firms
Skyrocketing salaries for top athletes and lucrative deals for college players have touched off a new gold rush among wealth management firms.
Skyrocketing salaries for top athletes and lucrative deals for college players have touched off a new gold rush among wealth management firms.
Juan Soto’s $765 million contract with Major League Baseball’s New York Mets highlights the unprecedented wealth being created by pro athletes, and the opportunities for wealth management firms that are handling their investments. With college players now earning six and seven figures for their name, image and likeness as well as women’s sports on the rise, the population and wealth of pro athletes has made sports a key driver of growth in wealth management.
“The numbers have gone through the roof,” said Molly Cloud, financial advisor and director of sports and entertainment at Morgan Stanley. “There is so much money that wasn’t around 10 years ago. It makes our job more complicated and exciting to be part of that growth.”
From longtime leaders in the space such as Morgan Stanley, Bernstein, UBS and Goldman Sachs, to multifamily offices including Rockefeller Capital Management and even private equity firms, wealth managers are expanding their sports and entertainment segments and hiring former athletes to recruit more clients.
James Beale, a former hockey player, is now development director for Rockefeller Capital Management’s Rockefeller Global Family Office and oversees the Sports and Entertainment group. Beale said that while athletes aren’t all that different from other high net worth clients, having experience as a former athlete helps.
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