With Mere $15,000 Deals, Big Brands Failed to Use Floyd Mayweather as the “Cheap Way” to Get Celebrities; Says TMT Co-Founder

The Money Team, often referred to as TMT, is a lifestyle and brand associated with the world of professional boxing. It was founded by the iconic American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. The Money Team represents Mayweather’s business ventures, promotional activities, and personal brand image. Moreover, under The Money Team umbrella, Mayweather has ventured into various other businesses. He has promoted and participated in some of the highest-grossing boxing matches in history, including his highly publicized bouts against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor.

Recently, the co-owner of The Money Team John Shahidi appeared on The Iced Coffee Hour. He talked about how TMT took shape. He revealed that brands didn’t like working with Floyd Mayweather so much, so they started their own brand The Money Team. Shahidi said, “In 2010, creating a YouTube channel around someone like Floyd was like very different. Back then, I mean, like, music videos were kind of newer to YouTube, let alone celebrities creating original content.” Furthermore, he mentioned that big brands tried to use Mayweather as a “cheap way” to get a celebrity to endorse their brand.

“We were left out”: Shahidi talks about triumphing over brand deals

John Shahidi shed light on the struggles they encountered while trying to secure brand deals for Floyd Mayweather. In the early days, monetizing YouTube channels was not deemed profitable. This prompted them to approach brands for video sponsorships. However, they faced a major obstacle—brands offered a mere $5,000 per video for a total of three videos. This left Shahidi grappling with how to approach Mayweather. He explained his predicament, “But how do I go to Floyd Mayweather and say ‘hey I just got a 15k deal from Reebok’ when LeBron James is making $10m from Nike?” 

He stated, “So brands were trying to use us as the cheap way to get to the celebrity. That celebrity saw through that, didn’t want to do it. Brands wouldn’t want to spend more than like whatever this little money that they had to experiment, so we were kind of left out.”

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It became apparent that brands saw them as a convenient, cost-effective means to reach the celebrity status associated with Mayweather. Yet, Mayweather saw through this tactic and refused to endorse products for such low amounts. In the end, their solution was to forego immediate profits and focus on building a strong network and reputation. The turning point arrived with the launch of The Money Team. He revealed,

“We created a Shopify site and from the day one started making money off of that.” Nonetheless, TMT managed to earn massive success. Furthermore, Shahidi also now has a successful YouTube channel called ‘NELK’. What do you think about the big brand deals Shahidi talked about? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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