I don’t think anyone envisioned the potential power of sports. For one, even if sports became “professional”, I doubt that they thought careers would last long enough to give an individual an opportunity to generate substantial wealth.
I think there were people that knew athletics could make people rich. Even in the era of gladiators in the Roman empire, the best gladiators were rich. But riches do not make wealth. Riches last a lifetime. Wealth can be passed down throughout generations.
Up until very recently, sports could make you rich, but the frailty of the human body, and, necessarily, the career of the athlete, meant that an athlete could not sustain his earning potential long enough to cross the gap between riches and wealth.
Muhammad Ali laid out the blueprint by being able to cross into pop culture and become an icon. However, the violence of boxing and the pounding that he took meant that he could not enjoy the best wine from the fruits of the vineyard he planted. In truth, every athlete of today owes a large degree of their earning power to the path that Muhammad Ali blazed. But Ali showed that you can be an icon as an athlete in a way that was previously reserved for only politicians, world leaders and religious figures. That’s why they call him “The Greatest.”
Jordan took the prototype that Ali built and weaponized it. He refined the craft, going from just icon to a business unto himself. First it was the shoes, then it was the tongue, then the Gatorade. Now he is his own billion dollar brand, and he owns his own team.
And with that, the cycle is ready to be renewed. From athlete, to icon, to entrepreneur, to owner. The Ali-Jordan model is ready for its next upgrade.