Bloomberg Línea — Benito Antonio Martínez, aka Bad Bunny, is no longer just a reggaeton artist. In addition to becoming the most-played Latino artist on the Spotify platform (SPOT), he has been dabbling in business for some time now, despite being only 29 years old.
Now the artist is partnering with Rimas Sports, a sports management agency and part of Rimas Entertainment, a company headed by Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, to which Bad Bunny belongs.
The goal is to empower athletes on and off the field, which already includes an extensive list of Latin American talent such as Santiago Espinal (Toronto Blue Jays), Yonathan Daza (Colorado Rockies), Wilmer Flores (San Francisco Giants), Livan Soto (Los Angeles Angels) and Jordan Diaz (Oakland Athletics).
In addition, the list includes MLB prospects such as Diego Cartaya (Los Angeles Dodgers); Ezequiel Tovar (Colorado Rockies); Ronny Mauricio (New York Mets), Marco Luciano (San Francisco Giants) and Wilmer Flores Jr. (Detroit Tigers).
Rimas Sports will offer agent management, brand and marketing relations, public relations, performance and skills training, financial advisors, concierge and logistics, with a focus on exposing and leveraging Latin American talent in the US.
It’s no secret that many famous athletes have made fortunes during their sports careers only to be bankrupted shortly thereafter. Much of this is due to full-time dedication to their careers, and in other cases to an unconscionable squandering of their earnings.
Because of this, having the figure of an administrator and advisor is often essential for athletes. An example of this was the boxer Mike Tyson, who came to have a fortune of $300 million and squandered it on excesses.
Another example is cited by CNBC, which indicates that although NFL players earn an average of $1.9 million a year, 15% of them end up declaring bankruptcy.
According to Invergest’, an athlete has a fairly short average professional life, depending on the sport. For tennis it is 12 years, soccer, 16 years, basketball (NBA), six years. That is why it is imperative that athletes are able to manage their earnings for their post-sport life.
“Athletes don’t start their career with the end in mind. At the beginning of someone’s career, they’re just figuring out how to get on the field. And the money is coming in, but they hardly have time to realize that. They have to live each contract as if it’s their last. But a lot of athletes initially think there will always be another contract,” Joe McLean, all-star wealth manager for the NBA, NFL, PGA, MLB and NASCAR, told CNBC.
The entrepreneur behind the music
This is not Bad Bunny’s first incursion into the world of sports, since in August 2021 he acquired Los Cangrejeros de Santurce, a basketball team in his home country of Puerto Rico.
And in August 2022, the Puerto Rican decided to try his luck by investing in the culinary sector, and he went in through the big door, partnering with Dave Grutman, a restaurateur who owns several restaurants and nightclubs in Miami, and with whom Bad Bunny partnered to open Gekkō, a restaurant that combines Japanese style with American steakhouse, and which is located in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.