After enjoying a 15-year career in the National Football League that saw him win a Super Bowl and make seven Pro Bowl appearances, Michael Strahan‘s net worth was able to get to mouthwatering levels. His purse further increased after he made the transition from playing as a defensive end on the football field to appearing in front of the camera as a host on some of America’s most viewed TV shows. Read on to find out more about his huge earnings that have got everybody talking, and how exactly he was able to make so much money, including a few details about his expenditures.
Michael Strahan’s Net Worth
According to the celebrity net worth website, Michael Strahan’s net worth is estimated to be around $65 million. While this figure is nowhere close to that of some other former NFL players like Roger Staubach, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre whose net worth are in hundreds of millions of dollars, the media personality still ranks amongst the top 20 richest NFL players ever.
Strahan has managed to keep his financial value up among the richest ex-NFL players despite him having almost lost half of his wealth in 2007. At the time, the player who had just retired from the league was worth $23 million. A judge went on to order him to pay his ex-wife from his second marriage $15 million in divorce settlement and $18,000 monthly child support, which he successfully appealed.
How He Made All His Money
Michael Strahan made his wealth from his successful careers both as an athlete, television host, author, and designer. The Houston, Texas native, who played his whole career for the New York Giants from 1993 – 2007, earned about $60 million in salary from the team. In 2002, he put pen to paper on a $46 million contract with the Giants that enabled him to pocket $20.6 million for the 2002-2003 season.
While it is not clear what he took home from endorsement deals, like the one which enabled him to appear in Campbell’s Chunky Soup commercials, it is thought that the defensive end, who holds the NFL record for sacks in a single season, made a couple more millions from those agreements.
Unlike a majority of other retired NFL stars, Michael Strahan was able to turn the celebrity status his sporting career gave him into that of a media personality. He started off by first hosting a home improvement program on the DIY Network titled Backyard Stadiums before it was announced that he would be joining Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show in June 2008.
Appearances in a web series and a sitcom followed for Strahan before he made his first appearance as a co-host for Live! with Regis and Kelly when Regis Philbin was absent for that show. Philbin later left the show in late 2011, giving room for another person to take his place. Over a two year period, different people were selected to appear with Kelly Ripa, including Strahan who made twenty guest appearances before he was announced as Philbin’s replacement and new co-host of the rebranded Live! with Kelly and Michael talk show.
In addition to winning two Daytime Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Talk Show Host,” Michael Strahan’s net worth also got a huge boost as it was reported that his total earnings per year were in the region of $17 million. Around this same time, the former athlete launched a men’s clothing line called Collection by Michael Strahan that included suits, collared shirts, and other accessories. He also published a motivational book called Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life.
In 2016, Strahan left Live! with Kelly and Michael to start working full-time on Good Morning America. Reports suggested that a huge salary was what prompted Strahan to leave Live!. However, it is not exactly clear how much he is being paid to host the new show. That same year, he also began hosting The $100,000 Pyramid. In 2018, he began co-hosting a daytime talk show spin-off of Good Morning America titled GMA Day, which has since been rebranded to Strahan, Sara, and Keke, all of which have contributed to him having a huge net worth.