How Joe Montana Achieved a Net Worth of $80 Million

Joe Montana is an American football player who made a fortune playing ball in the NFL. He is ranked as the seventh richest athlete in the NFL. His fortune is estimated to be $80 million. He is perhaps one of the most exceptional players in the history of the National Football League, and his name is recorded in the annals of the history of the game for several accomplishments during his long and successful career in the sport. Did he make this massive wealth by playing football, or did he have other sources of revenue to build this fortune? We looked into his career history and here is what we discovered.

His early years

Joe Montana was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania on June 11, 1956. He is a native of New England and grew up in the region, attending local schools there. After graduating from high school, he received the offer of a scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame, which he accepted. Afterward, he was selected as a third-round pick and drafted into the NFL in 1979 by the San Francisco 49ers. He got his start in the Pacific Northwest team and spend the first 14 seasons of his career on the team. Montana was traded in 1993 to the Kansas City Chiefs. He played for the team for two successful seasons, making it to the first AFC championship for the team in 1994.

His early earnings in the NFL

Joe Montana made a fortune as an athlete for the NFL. In addition to a hefty annual salary, he also brought in additional streams of income through earn outs, contracts and through endorsements. He was contracted for a salary of $50,000 for the first year with the 49ers and he also received a signing bonus of $50,000. The following season, his salary was raised to $70,000 annually. In 1981 the amount went up to $85,000. In 1990, Montana was contracted with the 49ers for $13,000,000 per year. By the year 2015, he was able to purchase a home in San Francisco valued at $2.2 million.

Significant achievements

Montana's value to the team continued to increase with the years. While playing on the SanFrancisco team he was a participant in 4 Super Bowl games. Joe was named the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1989 and again in 1990 by the Associated Press. Sports Illustrated magazine named him "Sportsman of the Year" in 1990 and he was also named as the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN in 1999. He was also named on the list of Football's 100 Greatest Players by The Sporting News. Joe Montana was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Loved by his fans

Joe Montana earned a list of different nicknames through the 15 years that he played in the National Football League. He was one of the most celebrated players of his time and was named Super Bowl MVP three different times for the four occasions when he and the team made it to the Bowl. His list of nicknames shows how much the fans loved him. He was called "the Comeback Kid," as well as "Joe Cool." He also made history when he made over $3 million in a single season. He was the first player to do so as of 1990. The next four years of his professional career would bring in $13 million for him. Joe Montana was a player that packed fans into the stadiums. he was long known for his ability to stay calm under pressure, which is what earned him the nickname "Joe Cool." He had his ups and downs through the years, but mostly ups and that is how he earned the nickname "The Comeback Kid." He was a truly remarkable quarterback during his time.

Branching into his own business

Montana retired after spending two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, but he wasn't retired from the business world. He had developed a partnership with a vineyard in Northern California during his playing years, and this inspired him to start his own wine. He called it Montagia, which officially landed him in the wine business in 2011. The former quarterback who had achieved 273 touchdowns with a total tally of passing yards that exceeded 40,000, he retired making his home in San Francisco, California. Montana has been married a total of three times and he is father to four children. He is known in the business world as being a wine producer with his own private label, and he is also a horse owner. He has also made some investments in stocks, although the amounts haven't been disclosed, nor have the companies that he has invested in.

Conclusion

Joe Montana has made millions of dollars as a quarterback in the National Football League. Although it appears that the bulk of his fortune was made as a professional athlete, he was also an entrepreneur and businessman. He has a fortune in his bank account, in property, and in other assets, but he still has a few sources of revenue even after retirement from the game. He continues to add to his fortune through his private wine label. Although the precise figure has not been disclosed, Montana is very well situated financially. Montana has also made investments in the stock market. We have no access to what kind of investments he made or how well his holdings are doing, but being a savvy businessman, we can safely assume that he was wise enough to invest in companies that would yield a decent return on investment. Regardless of what he did after his long and illustrious career in the NFL, this is where Joe Montana has made the bulk of his fortune. For his era, he was one of the top ten best-paid athletes.