In the ongoing national conversation of his national anthem protest, Colin Kaepernick put his wallet alongside his bold position and agreed to give $1 million of his salary to "charities that help communities."
[REWIND: Kaepernick pledges $1 million, 'I love America']
Then, he vowed to add the net proceeds from the sales of his 49ers jersey this season.
[RELATED: As jersey sales soar, Kaepernick pledges more donations]
Kaepernick, who was recently featured kneeling on the cover of Time Magazine, will be donating $100,000 over the next 10 months and creating a website where people can track how the money will be distributed, as Kaepernick has yet to determine which organizations he will finance. Recipient organizations will be scattered throughout the country.
[RELATED: Kaepernick featured on cover of Time Magazine]
Sports
The 49ers, through the leadership of CEO Jed York, announced their support of Kaepernick with a $1 million donation split evenly between the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. Exactly how that money will be used hasn’t been detailed although these two organizations have sterling philanthropic reputations throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
[RELATED: 49ers Foundation pledges $1 million to two charities]
It is easy to jump to conclusions on the amount of money that could be generated from his jersey sales. But a look at the Big 4 sports leagues, and how the general split of sales works for a $100 jersey with a player’s name stitched on the back.
HOW IT WORKS
In the NBA, the league is the licensing agent for the union, but in other sports it is necessary to negotiate a separate "group license" for any product that will use the identities of at least two (MLB) to five (NFL) players. The union decides how many players make a "group" for purposes of requiring a group license. That's why it varies from league to league. The union collects royalties and spends the money to defray operating costs.
NFL
In the NFL, all players share equally in licensing revenues, regardless of whose jersey is most popular. The benefit accrues to the players as a group not as individuals. If Player X’s jersey sells a million units and Player Y’s jersey sells a thousand units, each of them receives the same benefit under the NFL group license.
So no matter how many Kaepernick jerseys are sold, the proceeds of all jersey sales will be distributed evenly among the players within a particular group license.
MLB
If the jersey has their team logo and their name on it and is part of a line of jerseys featuring a number of different players, it is licensed through MLB Properties and the MLB Players Association, and those entities collect the royalties. The MLBPA shares royalties equally among its members, irrespective of which jerseys sell more units.
NBA
Fifteen percent goes to the NBA Players’ Association, paid by adidas or any other vendor, minus the cost of goods. The rest goes to the NBA as part of its licensing revenue, which is shared with the 30 franchises.
NHL
$100 is collected at the league level with $50 of that going into the players' share at the end of the fiscal year. The players' share is ultimately figured against all player salaries to see if escrow is withheld by the owners or the players get what is contracted to them.
"GOTTA BE THE SHOES"
Forget about the jerseys. The best way for a player to see big bucks off his uniform is through a shoe deal. Achieving national and international acclaim (and a subsequent shoe deal) is the quickest way to become a philanthropist...
LeBron James -- $500 million lifetime deal with Nike
Kevin Durant -- $30 million per year from Nike
Steph Curry -- Estimated $30 million a year from Under Armour
Cristiano Ronaldo -- $22 million a year from Nike
Lionel Messi -- $20 million per year from adidas
As Colin Kaepernick continues to grow his social responsibility platform, a return to 2013 form and cementing himself as the star it looked like he would become will come from squarely planting his flag as a starting NFL quarterback.
