What Is Deion Sanders' Net Worth Salary and Career Earnings?
Deion Sanders is a retired American professional football and baseball player who has a net worth of $45 million. Deion Sanders is considered one of the most gifted athletes of all time and one of the very few who excelled in two professional sports at the same time. He's the only person in history to have played in both a World Series and a Super Bowl. In 1989, he hit a home run in a baseball game and scored a touchdown in an NFL game IN THE SAME WEEK! Deion is often compared to fellow dual-sport athlete Bo Jackson. And while Bo never appeared in a Super Bowl or World Series, he did face off against Deion Sanders five times on the baseball diamond in 1990. At his professional peak, Deion Sanders was one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, earning $10-15 million per year in the late 1990s between endorsements and contracts from baseball and NFL teams. In December 2022, Deion signed a 5-year, $29.5 million contract to become the head coach of the University of Colorado football team.
Career Earnings
Between NFL and MLB salaries, Deion Sanders earned just under $60 million in contract money alone – $45 million from NFL salaries and $13 million from baseball salaries. After adjusting for inflation, the combined amount is the same as around $93 million in today's dollars. As you know, Deion also earned tens of millions more from endorsements with major companies, including Nike, Pepsi, Sega, Burger King, American Express, and Pizza Hut.
As you can see from the tables below, from 1991 to 1997 and then again in 2000, Deion double-dipped professional salaries. He earned both a baseball AND an NFL salary. His peak single season was 1995, when he earned $7 million from the Dallas Cowboys and $3.66 million from the Cincinnati Reds, for a total of $10.66 million. After adjusting for inflation, that's the same as earning $20 million in a year today.
| Deion Sanders NFL Earnings: | ||
| Season | Team | Salary |
| 1989 | Atlanta Falcons | $880,000 |
| 1990 | Atlanta Falcons | $880,000 |
| 1991 | Atlanta Falcons | $880,000 |
| 1992 | Atlanta Falcons | $880,000 |
| 1993 | Atlanta Falcons | $880,000 |
| 1994 | SF 49ers | $1,250,000 |
| 1995 | Dallas Cowboys | $7,000,000 |
| 1996 | Dallas Cowboys | $7,000,000 |
| 1997 | Dallas Cowboys | $7,000,000 |
| 1998 | Dallas Cowboys | $7,000,000 |
| 1999 | Dallas Cowboys | $7,000,000 |
| 2000 | Washington Redskins | $3,200,000 |
| 2004 | Baltimore Ravens | $1,800,000 |
| Total NFL Salary: | $45,650,000 | |
| Deion Sanders Baseball Earnings | ||
| Season | Team | Salary |
| 1991 | Atlanta Braves | $660,000 |
| 1992 | Atlanta Braves | $600,000 |
| 1993 | Atlanta Braves | $3,166,667 |
| 1994 | Atlanta Braves | $3,632,513 |
| 1995 | Cincinnati Reds | $3,666,667 |
| 1997 | Cincinnati Reds | $1,200,000 |
| 2000 | Cincinnati Reds | $300,000 |
| Total: | $13,225,847 | |
Total NFL + MLB Career Earnings: $58,875,847
Early Life
Deion Sanders was born Deion Luwynn Sanders on August 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida. He was a letterman and all-state honoree in football, basketball, and baseball when he attended North Fort Myers High School. Deion was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century team in 1985, which consists of the top 33 players in the 100-year history of high school football in Florida. That same year, the Kansas City Royals selected him for the Major League Baseball draft, but he declined.
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Football Career
Deion Sanders, who went by the nicknames "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion," is one of a very few professional athletes who succeeded in two different major sports leagues. In fact, Sanders is one of the most versatile athletes in sporting history. He played football for Florida State University and was recognized as a two-time All-American champion. Deion played basketball and ran track as well during his college years. During the fall semester of his senior year at Florida State, Sanders did not attend any classes or take any final exams, but he was allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl. This forced the school Legislature to create "the Deion Sanders rule," which states that an athlete at any state school could not participate in a bowl game without successfully completing the previous semester.
He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and played football primarily as a cornerback. He played for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins (his heftiest contract at $56 million and seven years), and the Baltimore Ravens, playing multiple positions such as cornerback, but also occasionally as a wide receiver, kick returner, and punt returner. Deion played 14 seasons with the NFL and won two Super Bowl Titles, XXIX with the 49ers and XXX with the Cowboys. He also played in nine pro-bowls and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Baseball Career
Sanders played professional baseball part-time for nine years. He signed with the Yankees in July 1988 but left to attend NFL training camp instead. He made his major league baseball debut on May 31, 1989. Three days after inking a $4.4 million deal, Dion ran his first punt for a score, making him the only athlete ever to both score a touchdown and hit a home run in the same week. Over his near-decade of playing, Deion played on a number of teams; he played first with the New York Yankees until he was released after just one season. He experienced a bit more success with the Atlanta Braves, then went on to play with the Cincinnati Reds in 1997 and later with the San Francisco Giants.
Although he was an elite football player, his time on the baseball diamond was difficult. His personality clashed with the game's more conservative approach, and he often got into fights on the field and on camera. He made one World Series appearance with the Braves in 1992 (which was his best year for both sports) and was the only individual to ever appear in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. He retired from baseball in 2001.
Coaching Career and Salary
On December 5, 2022, Deion was announced as the new head coach of the University of Colorado football team. With the announcement, it was revealed that he had signed a 5-year, $29.5 million deal to join the program. That works out to a salary of $5.9 million per year. From 2020 to 2022, Sanders was the head coach of Jackson State University and led the team to two consecutive Celebration Bowl appearances and the first undefeated regular season in school history.
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images
Endorsements and Other Work
During his career, Deion appeared in many commercials for dozens of major brands like Nike, Pepsi, Sega, Burger King, American Express, and Pizza Hut.
In 1989, Sanders released his autobiography: "Power, Money, & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life." In 1994, he released a rap album called "Prime Time" on MC Hammer's Bust It Records. Deion appeared in Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit" music video in addition to having several cameo appearances in television shows and movies.
In 1995, after his first Super Bowl win, he hosted "Saturday Night Live." In 2002, he hosted the Miss USA pageant. In 2008, he starred on the reality show "Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love." That same year, Sanders competed against Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner and Kris Jenner, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe Kardashian on "Celebrity Family Feud."
He also works as a volunteer football coach at his son's school, Trinity Christian School Cedar Hill. In 2012, Sanders founded the Prime Prep Academy Charter School; however, the school closed due to financial and legal reasons in 2015. From 2014 to 2015, he starred in "Deion's Family Playbook," a reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network about his family life. After he retired from both sports, he began to work as a studio analyst for both the NFL Network on Sundays and CBS Sports on Thursday games only.
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Personal Life
Deion Sanders was married to Carolyn Chambers from 1989 to 1998. The pair had two children together.
Deion was married to Pilar Biggers-Sanders from 1999 to 2013. They have three children. Their divorce was complicated and messy and drew much attention from the media. She reportedly found out about his divorce filing after seeing a story on TMZ. The couple had a prenuptial agreement, which called for him to pay her $100,000 per year for every year they were married. In their case, 12 years. As the divorce proceedings dragged on, Pilar, at one point, implied on a television program that Deion was physically abusive during their marriage. In response, Sanders sued her for defamation. He temporarily won a $3 million judgment, which was eventually overturned. In the end, Deion agreed to pay Pilar $10,000 per month for child support and cover $275,000 worth of her legal fees on top of their pre-arranged prenup terms.
In 2012, Sanders began a relationship with Tracey Edmonds, ex-wife of musician Babyface. They remained together unmarried for over ten years. They confirmed their breakup in November 2023.
In 2005, Sanders challenged all pro athletes from all four major sports to donate $1,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, with the goal to raise between $1.5 and $3 million.
In 2020, Sanders graduated from Talladega College with a bachelor's in business administration with an emphasis on organizational management. In 2021, he underwent several foot surgeries and had to have two toes on his left foot removed as a result of blood clots.
Chateau Montclair
In February 2011, Deion listed two of his Dallas-area homes for sale. One was listed for $7.5 million, and the other for a whopping $21 million. The one he listed for $21 million is a 30,000-square-foot mansion known as "Chateau Montclair." When he lived there, the property spanned 112 acres. Custom-built in 1999 by Deion, Chateau Montclair has eight bedrooms, a ten-car garage, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a basketball court, a twelve-acre lake, a billiard room, a barber shop… and more. The master bedroom suite alone is larger than many single-family homes, with 3,000 square feet of living space, a kitchen, and a Jacuzzi. Deion sold Chateau Montclair in 2014 to developers for $15 million. Those developers subsequently subdivided the property into several lots to create an upscale neighborhood they called "Montclair." Deion's former mansion was reduced from 112 acres to six acres. In 2018, the reduced-sized Chateau Montclair was listed for $14.5 million before plummeting to $4.95 million in 2020, but it ultimately has not sold as of this writing. Here's a video tour of Chateau Montclair from the 2018 listing:
In 2023, Deion Sanders listed his 42-acre farm in Mississippi for $1.5 million. After accepting the head coaching job at the University of Colorado, he purchased a mansion near the school for $3.97 million.
