Kobe Bryant makes something somewhere north of $30 million dollars a year, at least. He makes $22 million from the Lakers this year. All of his endorsements aren't public knowledge, but you can bet they provide a pretty hefty amount of coin. So all in all, he's doing pretty well for himself.
Or so you think.
This economy has hit all of us hard. And if you want to survive, you need to treat your assets as a business. You never know when that $30 million a year is going to suddenly vanish into nothing. I mean, that's not really that much more than the average American family makes, you know? Plus, Kobe loves Cheesecake Factory. Do you know how much that costs?
Luckily, Kobe and his people are thinking ahead. They've figured out a way to weather the storm. And it's all in KB24.com.
KB24.com is arguably the best athlete website on earth. It provides exclusive content. It has nice flash design. It is the web portal to the product that is Kobe Bryant. It must take a seriously committed webmaster to run, and its operating budget is probably higher than all of the other athlete websites out there.
So it probably takes a pretty big chunk out of that $30 million. It must have, since now they're charging Kobe's fans for it.
LABallTalk.com brings us the story today of changes to KB24.com. Now, all the important stuff that you came to KB24.com for are still free. Pictures of Kobe's new shoes (only $140 per pair!), highlight reels you can get on YouTube, and lots of links to the 24Store (thank goodness, Momma's birthday is coming up soon!). But if, for some reason, you wanted to check out Kobe's exclusive blog, or talk to other Kobe fans about how he was totally robbed of the MVP in 200x, you better pony up.
For premium content on KB24.com, Kobe's now charging $49.99.
But don't get angry! Listen to what all you get for that low, low price!
From KB24.com:
"A KB24 Membership entitles you to all of the following:
- An exclusive KB24 T-Shirt
- Access to exclusive content including videos, audio and photos
- Members-only access to exclusive contests.
- Access to exclusive KB24 events
- Access to member only messageboards, blogs, social network
- Exclusive access to KB24 events (chat/blogs/live video/listening party, meet & greets etc).
- Much More.
What a bargain!
Now, our resident disciple of Bean (no, not Edwards, the other one), and excellent blogger Nate Jones, points out that "These guys are businesses. They have to operate in that fashion. The guys that don't are the ones that we make fun of in blog posts when they are broke 5 years after they get out of the league. There's absolutely nothing wrong with him charging for premium areas on his site."
Nate also mentions that ESPN and other sites charge for premium content, and that the site is still primarily free. Of course, that still means that a pretty good number of kids that worship #24 will probably be plunking down their allowances for a T-shirt and the ability to write "First!" on a post about Kobe's new kicks.
I, for one, want to applaud Mr. Bryant. It's not every day that an ordinary, run-of-the-mill superstar athlete making the league maximum puts the ol' fashioned elbow grease into trying to stimulate this woeful economy. If all athletes pulled more money out of their fans for content they could afford to provide for free, maybe we wouldn't be going to bed at night terrified about them only being able to afford 10 BMWs.
Our own Matt Watson does point out that at least the fee would allow for a reasonable conversation in the forums without the usual trolls that would be unwilling to pay $49.99 to post "Kobe Sucks."
I just think Kobe's showing why he's considered the best player on the planet. Any advantage he can get, he'll take.
Oh, and I looked for something similar on dwyanewade3.com, but all I found were charity news items. Weird.
Kidding, Kobe does lots of charity work. And he doesn't ask them for any money. We're pretty sure.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Do some research! What kind of writer are you? How much does it cost to maintain the website? You have no idea. How many members were given free membership? You didn't know that happened. Do members get anything else? You would have had to do more than double click your mouse for that one. What's the value of the t-shirt? How could you know? Did you try and talk to the webmaster? No. Did you see the Today Show about the kid Kobe flew over from Asia with his family for treatment for spins bifida? Paid for everything! If you don't like Kobe that's fine, but don't force us to read about your personal opinion. Do your job before you write a bunch of crap!
Nice blog very tmzish all style no substance. If you wanted to criticize Kobe
jay, how does kobe's ass taste?
and your point is, come on man don't be hatin. with obama in the white house you and aquanetta need to show some restraint. be down with the brown.
"...don't force us to read about your personal opinion"
Yikes.
Here's my question: What's the difference between access to exclusive KB24 events and exclusive access to KB24 events?
We better be gettin some up-short pics or somethin.
well, hey, you get all that stuff, and if you're totally insane obsessed about kobe, then you'll be the first to know what's up. however, if you're a normal sane person, $50 is about 2 weeks of groceries for two, plus cats... so... i'll pass on the kobe gravy train...
The first commenter, Jay McMillan seems to be pretty fired up about this story. I'm not sure whether your anger for it is directed at Matt (who happens to be one of the best the basketball world has to offer) or myself (an ordinary guy who happens to share your passion for Kobe Bryant and his skills). Either way, I've got to point out that no matter how much good a person does, the bad is always exposed. Kobe Bryant's name is the reason for his website. His image is on the line with a website like this. I can assure you 100% that his fans would prefer to have free access to a lower quality site than have to pay for a membership. I can assure you that Kobe's people are well taken care of for managing the site and no one is truly at a loss of funds due to no membership fee. After all, the guy is probably the single most recognizable athlete in the world. The site is about the fans and marketing him as a whole, not a source of income. That's like NBA FanHouse charging you to leave a comment on this site all of the sudden. Yesterday it was free, today it's not. Would you pay? Probably not, especially not in this economy!
Big suprise! Thugs charging to look at their crap. Any idiot that pays that kind of money deserves what he gets; nothing! What a joke. Men are so incredibly stupid it is unbelievable! Only a man would be dumb enough to pay $50 to read about how great this man thinks he is!
Once a RAPIST, always a RAPIST!!!!!
Just on more case of a over paid, over pampered, spoiled child thinking that he is worth more than he is to his fans. Oh, and by the way if he is his own product and his web site is to promote that product. Then why does no other Fortune 500 company charge to view their web site.....HMMMMMMMMMM GREED!!!!!!
You have to be a idiot to pay for his website. Does he give you advice that no one else gives.
He's a rapist and a showoff clown!
Just as blacks are spending all their welfare money for obama commemorative coins and such, the blacks will also glady let themselves be extorted by this guy...!
Interesting. Since Whites receive MORE welfare dollars than any other race in America...you should know that Whites spend more money on rap and KB24 material. I'm Black and could buy you for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have no idea what welfare feels like. Crawl from underneath your trailer and educate yourself on reality. This sin't 1964
If "once a rapist always a rapist" be true, is "once a thief always a thief" true also? I ask because when Christoher Columbus allegedly, "discovered" America - there were people already here. That would make Columbus a liar and a thief.
I hope Kobe raises the price of his website to $5,000. That would really get rid of all of these hating clowns! Albert Einstein wouldn't dare sit in class with remedial idiots!
Interesting... You wish it to be $5k. Your crack business must be better than DEA records imply..!
You need to be taught some manners....
Meet me at. Kiss my a#sD kobe.com It"s Free!
KB,you just lost any chance of me being a fan.Don't you have enough money?50 bucks is a lot of dough for a average fan to shell out.What a slap in the face.
Screw a rapist!!11111111