Wayne Gretzky's Net Worth Wins the Cup
They call him the “Great One” for being the only hockey player to score over 200 points in a season, which he did four times. Wayne Gretzky is Canadian. He also has dual-citizenship as an American for marrying his wife, Janet, who is American. He was born in Canada on January 26, 1961, which makes him an Aquarian.
The Age of Aquarius
Aquarians are free spirits, independent thinkers, and humanitarians. They welcome change and innovation. They have a vision, idealism, and a desire to make the planet a better place. They excel at whatever they do and do so by frequently being unconventional.
Gretzky had an amazing career as a professional hockey player. The prudent investments of his earnings helped him to amass a well-deserved fortune. Wayne Gretzky's net worth, as he soon enters his sixties, is over $250 million, more precisely $280 million.
Wayne Gretzky's net worth of $250 million qualifies to be on the list of richest athletes of all time along with Michael Jordan. Jordan nearly tops the list with $1.9 billion. Wayne Gretzky's net worth is up there with other richest athletes net worth like Shaquille O’Neal who has about $400 million and another highest net worth athlete, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has about $400 million. Both Shaq and Arnold added to their net worth after being athletes as celebrities in television and films.
Highest-Paid Athletes
Sports Team Owner and Coach
Gretzky chose to move into a sports management role after retiring as a hockey player. In 2002, he was the executive director of the Canadian national men's hockey team for the Winter Olympics. Under his guidance, the Canadian team won the Olympic gold medal for the first time in 50 years. Wayne Gretzky's net worth increased from his continued investments in the sport. He was a part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes and coached the team. In 2016, he became the vice-chairman and part-owner of the Oilers Entertainment Group.
Forbes lists him as number eight on the top-ten list of the highest-paid retired athletes. At the peak of his athletic career, Wayne Gretzky earned an annual salary of $17 million playing for the Edmonton Oilers. This big payday came after his team joined the NHL, and he led them to win the Stanley Cup four times.
It is estimated that he made about $93.8 million from 1990 to 1998 from his player’s salary and endorsements. Gretzky retired from playing hockey in 1999. He loved hockey since he first started playing at the age of three and continues to be heavily involved in promoting the sport.
Wayne Gretzky's Professional Hockey Playing Career
Wayne Gretzky's net worth went up each year as a professional hockey player. His success was incredible. Many think he is the greatest hockey player of all time. His legendary skills in hockey rank up there with the greats from other sports like Babe Ruth from baseball, Jerry Rice from American football, and Pelé from soccer.
He was already strong enough to play for an NHL team when he was a younger teenager; however, he had to wait until he got old enough as a legal-age adult to be allowed to join the professional team of the Edmonton Oilers. At the end of his first NHL season, he was named the most valuable player and won a Hart Memorial Trophy. It was the first time a new player won that award for their first season of playing. After that, he turned the Edmonton Oilers into an unstoppable success. They won the Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988.
Even though his team did not win the Stanley Cup during 1986, it was arguably Gretzky’s finest year. He scored 52 goals with a record-breaking 163 assists.
In 1988, the NHL forced a trade of Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles. He played for the L.A. Kings for the next eight seasons. His excellent skills and scoring capacity got them in the Stanley Cup Finals during 1993, where they lost to Montreal after a five-game match. After L. A., he was traded in 1996 to play with the St. Louis Blues for just one season and then played for the New York Rangers for the final three years of his career.
Gretzky broke over 60 league records. He still holds the record for the most goals for a career of 894, along with the most assists of 1,963, and the most points for a career of 2,857. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and his jersey number of “99” was permanently retired.
Wayne Gretzky's Product Endorsements
Wayne Gretzky's net worth got a boost from the many product endorsements he has done over the years including advertisements and being a spokesperson for:
All-Star Café chain
Anheuser-Busch
Bill Blass Timepieces
Coca-Cola
Domino’s Pizza
Ford
Head and Shoulders Shampoo
Hudson's Bay Co.
McDonald's Canada
NCB cartoon
Pepsi-Cola Canada
Sharp Corporation
The Wayne Gretzky Fantasy Camp
Upper Deck Company
He endorsed all kinds of things including soft drinks, fast foods, pillowcases, clothing, sports equipment, personal care items, and insurance products. He had an action figure, fashioned after his likeness, which became a popular toy. In 1983, the Canadian government issued an official, legal tender, Wayne Gretzky Canadian one-dollar coin.
Gretzky’s attitude endeared him to his fans. He was quiet and humble about his success. He lived for the sport, which ensured that there were no off-the-ice hijinks or bad behavior to create negative media attention.
Wayne Gretzky's Charitable Efforts
Some of Wayne Gretzky's net worth goes to help charitable causes. He has his own Wayne Gretzky and Friends Charity. He also provides support for the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, the Olympic Aid program, and the Ronald McDonald Children's Charities.
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Wayne Gretzky's Early Life
The first time he got on the ice, he was only three years old. The feeling of being on the ice enchanted him and from then on he never wanted to be off the ice. During the winters, he spent up to ten hours per day on the ice until age 12. He would get up early and skate before school and then go back out on the ice after he got home. He ate his dinner wearing his skates and went back out after eating dinner, to skate until dark.
By the time he was ten, he has so much time on the ice and became so skilled that the jealous parents booed him when he played hockey with kids his age because he was too good. The other kids did not stand a chance against his unstoppable ability to score goals. In one season, as a ten-year-old, he scored 378 goals.
His commitment to practice hockey was superb. This gave him the experience and the edge needed to beat players much older than he was. His father coached him in a backyard rink they had built around his home.
They practiced repetitive drills until it became so embedded in his brain that it became an innate ability, which allowed him to be able to know where the puck would go next. His father taught him to skate, not to where the puck was, but where it will be. His father also taught him that before a player shoots the puck, he looks to where he will shoot it. By watching these subtle clues, Gretzky would have an advantage over the other players. Gretzky would say that anticipation was his greatest skill and that it was something that he was taught by his father.
The Fascinating Tale of One of Wayne Gretzky's American Houses
As a businessman, Gretzky loves to buy and sell real estate for a profit. Part of Wayne Gretzky's net worth came from the sale of a house that he renovated in Thousand Oaks, California, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. This estate is massive, with 10,815 square feet of total living space including the main house along with two guest houses. The estate sits on a hilltop, with an amazing view. There are 6.5 acres surrounding it. It is the nicest house in the up-scale Sherwood Country Club gated community.
The main house’s amenities include six bedrooms with seven and one-half bathrooms. It has an Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool, a sunken tennis court, a gourmet kitchen, and an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven. Its open floor plan, with hardwood flooring and plaster detailing, was designed by architect Richard Landry. One of the guest houses has a full gym.
In 2007, Gretzky sold the home to former professional baseball superstar Lenny Dykstra. As a baseball player, Dykstra made $36 million in salary pay. After Dykstra retired in 1998, he became an entrepreneur. He bought car washes and quick-lube franchises in the Los Angeles area and build up the company’s value, over the next nine years, to sell it for $51 million in 2007. That is when he bought Gretzky's Thousand Oaks home for $18.5 million.
The Fall of Dykstra
By 2009, Dykstra listed his net worth at close to $60 million and the real estate market collapsed taking his fortune down with it. Dykstra tried to sell the home. He listed it for the $18.5 million that he paid for it. It was the worst time to sell real estate and no buyers were interested or could get financing. A few months later, he lowered the price to $14.9 million. Still, no takers, so after a few more months he lowered it again to $9,999,999. Then, he lost the home in a foreclosure.
Dykstra filed bankruptcy in 2010 showing only $50,000 in assets and that he was $50 million in debt. He became homeless, was living in his car, and eventually ended up in jail. For car theft charges and bankruptcy fraud, he was sentenced to three years in 2012. He was released in mid-2013 on early parole.
The Home Goes Around Again
In 2010, an investment firm called Index Investors bought the property for only $760,000. In 2013, they sold it for $9.5 million. In 2018, Gretzky re-purchased the home for $13.5 million and it once again adds to Wayne Gretzky's net worth. I’ll bet he wishes he bought it when it sold for less than $1 million in 2010.
Wayne Gretzky's Taste For Fine Wines And Gourmet Food
Another source of Wayne Gretzky's net worth is his ownership of a winery and co-ownership in many restaurants. In 2017, he opened a winery and distillery with Andrew Pellar LTD that is called Wayne Gretzky Estates. The winery is located near Ontario, Canada in an area called Niagara-on-the-Lake. In the offseason, you may be lucky enough to find Gretzky hanging out there, sharing his fine wines and whiskey with the many visitors.
One of the restaurants owned by Gretzky that adds to Wayne Gretzky's net worth is called simply Wayne Gretzky’s. It opened in 1993 in Toronto, Canada. It has his hockey jersey number of “99” as a big metal sculpture displayed out front.
Gretzky owns other restaurants. He opened a restaurant called No. 99 Gretzky's Wine & Whisky in 2016 at the Edmonton International Airport. He owns another one called Studio 99 that opened in 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Wayne Gretzky's Family
Gretzky married actress Janet Jones in 1988, and they have five children. Their marriage on July 16, 1988, was a lavish ceremony that the Canadian press dubbed as the “Royal Wedding.” Gretzky spent over $1 million on the ceremony held at Edmonton’s St. Joseph’s Basilica church. It was broadcast live on television. His daughter Paulina is now a famous model and actress.
Conclusion
Wayne Gretzky's net worth is modest by some standards for all that he has done to bring hockey into international prominence. He seems happy with his life, fulfilled by his marriage and family, and must enjoy having the spectacular house he built in Thousand Oaks, California once again back under his ownership. He enjoys living in California. Some guys are real winners in life and Wayne Gretzky is one of the best.