A genie makes you the best in the world at your chosen Sport/Game for a full calendar year- what would make you the most money in that year?
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Golf is 100% the answer. You can easily qualify for majors through an open process as a nobody. After your first win of a major you are gonna be in every other event automatically. Once you win 2 - 3 events the sponsor money is gonna start pouring in. If you won every tournament you can find the prize payouts here:
golfweek.usatoday.com
It is basically like 65 - 70m just from tournament winnings which would be impossible to match in any other sport in 1 year. Plus once you had won multiple tournaments in a row you could make so much sponsor money. Easily you could get to 100m in the year in golf.
What are the prize money payouts for the 38 tournaments on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule?
There’s nearly $400 million in official prize money up for grabs in 2024 on the PGA Tour.
golfweek.usatoday.com
It is basically like 65 - 70m just from tournament winnings which would be impossible to match in any other sport in 1 year. Plus once you had won multiple tournaments in a row you could make so much sponsor money. Easily you could get to 100m in the year in golf.
My sport is basketball. I'm a perfectly average adult men's league player cruising into my 40+ years.
Genuinely the best in the world and I could be discovered in time to actually make a professional roster? I'd probably wouldn't make that much. Steph Curry, the highest paid single season player in the NBA makes about $50-$55m/year, but that's only after he's proven himself as the best player in the world for year after year and a quintessential player on his championship winning teams.
No NBA team is going to pay me $50m immediately. Realistically, for just one year, even if I was truly the best NBA player in the world I might not even get a developmental contract. It'd be hard to get noticed, get signed, and get on the court with *no* basketball pedigree. And if I turn into a pumpkin exactly 1 year later, I might never make a single team.
I'd be really hard to prove that I'm an NBA-caliber player even if I'm the best player in the world. A ton of guys have mix tapes in rec league where they look super natural, and they're not good enough to make a D3 college basketball starting 5, and they never sniff the pros. You can't just walk to the Celtics gym and say "trust me bro"
Ohhh I get to pick the sport?
Yeah I'd probably go golf. In one year, I could pay to play in a prestigious club, put up their club record which would immediately get me noticed, and then try to get on an amateur circuit and get into a pro-am tournament where the payout could be solid six figures, with the intent of doing pro-am the whole summer to make as much money in one year as possible. Realistically I think I could land a sponsorship that pays a decent salary and try to win some tournaments.
Yeah, good suggestion with Poker. Even if you don't make it into some massive stakes televised tournament, you can still probably do well for yourself at casinos if you're very confident and have something to start with.
Though even with Golf... being "the best player in the world" doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get invited or qualify for every tournament.
Genuinely the best in the world and I could be discovered in time to actually make a professional roster? I'd probably wouldn't make that much. Steph Curry, the highest paid single season player in the NBA makes about $50-$55m/year, but that's only after he's proven himself as the best player in the world for year after year and a quintessential player on his championship winning teams.
No NBA team is going to pay me $50m immediately. Realistically, for just one year, even if I was truly the best NBA player in the world I might not even get a developmental contract. It'd be hard to get noticed, get signed, and get on the court with *no* basketball pedigree. And if I turn into a pumpkin exactly 1 year later, I might never make a single team.
I'd be really hard to prove that I'm an NBA-caliber player even if I'm the best player in the world. A ton of guys have mix tapes in rec league where they look super natural, and they're not good enough to make a D3 college basketball starting 5, and they never sniff the pros. You can't just walk to the Celtics gym and say "trust me bro"
Ohhh I get to pick the sport?
Yeah I'd probably go golf. In one year, I could pay to play in a prestigious club, put up their club record which would immediately get me noticed, and then try to get on an amateur circuit and get into a pro-am tournament where the payout could be solid six figures, with the intent of doing pro-am the whole summer to make as much money in one year as possible. Realistically I think I could land a sponsorship that pays a decent salary and try to win some tournaments.
Yeah, good suggestion with Poker. Even if you don't make it into some massive stakes televised tournament, you can still probably do well for yourself at casinos if you're very confident and have something to start with.
Though even with Golf... being "the best player in the world" doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get invited or qualify for every tournament.
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Golf is 100% the answer. You can easily qualify for majors through an open process as a nobody. After your first win of a major you are gonna be in every other event automatically. Once you win 2 - 3 events the sponsor money is gonna start pouring in. If you won every tournament you can find the prize payouts here:
What are the prize money payouts for the 38 tournaments on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule?
There’s nearly $400 million in official prize money up for grabs in 2024 on the PGA Tour.
It is basically like 65 - 70m just from tournament winnings which would be impossible to match in any other sport in 1 year. Plus once you had won multiple tournaments in a row you could make so much sponsor money. Easily you could get to 100m in the year in golf.
Remember the immortal words of Patrick Star: "Never trust a genie". You'll win your qualifiers and get a spot in the US Open but your car/plane will crash on the way to Pinehurst. But other than that, I think this is the answer. Also, a near record number of people are trying to qualify this year.
https://www.usopen.com/2024/article...ntries-for-Third-Time-in-US-Open-History.html
Golf, I think. Looking at the requirements for eligibility I think if I'm the best in the world I can get to the tour and start earning big bucks relatively quickly.
You need three or more (charity, some local company open, school-alumni, etc) golf tournaments to get a USGA handicap index of 0.4 or better. You're the best in the world so, you'll have that after three. Qualifying for the US Open has two rounds. The US Open is in June. After you win that (you're the best in the world), you would be exempt for tournaments in the US plus the British Open inclusive to the next US Open. I guess the 12-month period would have to start in Feb to give enough time to really prove your handicap got that good from out of nowhere. I mean, you will be suspected of cheating but you should be able to disprove that before the qualifiers. So you could theoretically be paid for tournaments for ~6 months. Winning the just last three majors of the year would blow probably blow away the money you could make doing anything else.
But "Never trust a genie".
EDIT: If you started in Feb, you would be back to your normal self before the Masters, Players, and some other pretty big tournaments. But I still think this is the best way forward.
Its definitely Golf. Other sports severely restrict salary for first year players, something like baseball might have you never even getting to the majors in that 1 year even if you were Ohtani level great. Golf doesn't have to worry about teammates or capped salaries, you just qualify and then start dominating.
You don't even have to win events, top 10 finishes at some majors and other big events will net you like 500k a pop. But ideally you're also winning smaller events and really raking it in
You don't even have to win events, top 10 finishes at some majors and other big events will net you like 500k a pop. But ideally you're also winning smaller events and really raking it in
Thinking about this some more:
I show up to Job-Bob's Toys for Tots charity golf tournament. I'm a complete unknown. Turning 55 yrs old this summer. But I'm hitting 300 yr drives, nailing my pitches, reading all of the green perfectly, probably making a few hole-in-ones on the par 3s. That's probably worth it even if the genie keeps from making any money ^_^.
I show up to Job-Bob's Toys for Tots charity golf tournament. I'm a complete unknown. Turning 55 yrs old this summer. But I'm hitting 300 yr drives, nailing my pitches, reading all of the green perfectly, probably making a few hole-in-ones on the par 3s. That's probably worth it even if the genie keeps from making any money ^_^.
Only reason I wouldn't pick golf is that if I played in major tournaments and won, my annoying in laws would want me to play rounds with them and I'd go back to my 90-100 average score and have to deal with that for the rest of my life.
What if I told the press, immediately, that a genie gave me these powers? Hahahah
This is another good thought experiment, which sport can you get paid for by going back to being shit? Golf might be the one. I'd just be myself, focus on drinking while playing at these high dollar tournaments. barely crack 90, but I'd be a fan favorite and spin that into endorsements for ... like low testosterone drugs and hair plugs.
What if I told the press, immediately, that a genie gave me these powers? Hahahah
This is another good thought experiment, which sport can you get paid for by going back to being shit? Golf might be the one. I'd just be myself, focus on drinking while playing at these high dollar tournaments. barely crack 90, but I'd be a fan favorite and spin that into endorsements for ... like low testosterone drugs and hair plugs.
For those saying Poker over golf, I think being the best in the world as the OP says makes a much bigger difference in golf than poker. In poker you can play a hand exactly right and still lose all the time. Even playing everything perfectly, you might only win a small handful of tournaments a year. Whereas with golf, if you are truly the best in the world you are going to win a way higher percentage of tournaments.
A "calendar year" is Jan 1 to Dec 31. A "year's time" is 365 consecutive days. (366 for leap years)
Anyways, my choice is basketball even if that's not the optimal answer. I join some pro-am games in August or Sept, walk-on to a team for a minimum, rack up endorsement deals as I blow the league away, win a championship in June, then retire. Some of my endorsement deals end right away, some linger for another couple of years. I pivot into the hot takes business, and when that slows down, I sell off access to the genie while shorting* major sports-related stocks like Disney (owns ESPN) as wider access to the genie will crater interest in sports of all kinds.
* or maybe executing a straddle?
This is such a tricky question. If you're a complete nobody on 12/31/2023 and then the #1 player at a given game/sport, that doesn't automatically mean you can compete for money starting 1/1/2024. It's not like you can just walk on to an NBA team or onto a La Liga team for a tryout or crack onto an F1 roster as a person off the street. I'm not entirely familiar with golf, but are there quick in-roads for amateur to pro tournaments? Like can you play an amateur tournament to qualify for a bigger one or something?
Part of me wants to say poker, but even the top players in poker will have weeks, months, and even years where they're down BIG due to long run averages taking a while to swing back. Also I think if you were to take the top 500 poker players in the world currently and assign them ranks, I don't think there would be much difference between #1 and #500. Everyone at that level understands betting strategy, they understand the probability of what to play and how to play it, and they can only control so much. Even the best players take bad beats.
Depending on the answer to the golf question, I think that might be it. Or maybe track & distance running? You find a way onto a college track like Oregon while the team is practicing or something and smoke everywhere there while laying down world record times in any event you want to display, you'll get brand deals instantly. Or stream your attempts online or whatever of you breaking the 100m and 800m record on a Wednesday. Or if you just showed up to the Boston Marathon and set a world record, you'd have every company out there throwing sponsorship deals at you. And actually, 2024 is an Olympics year. You can turn yourself into a branding powerhouse by year-end.
Part of me wants to say poker, but even the top players in poker will have weeks, months, and even years where they're down BIG due to long run averages taking a while to swing back. Also I think if you were to take the top 500 poker players in the world currently and assign them ranks, I don't think there would be much difference between #1 and #500. Everyone at that level understands betting strategy, they understand the probability of what to play and how to play it, and they can only control so much. Even the best players take bad beats.
Depending on the answer to the golf question, I think that might be it. Or maybe track & distance running? You find a way onto a college track like Oregon while the team is practicing or something and smoke everywhere there while laying down world record times in any event you want to display, you'll get brand deals instantly. Or stream your attempts online or whatever of you breaking the 100m and 800m record on a Wednesday. Or if you just showed up to the Boston Marathon and set a world record, you'd have every company out there throwing sponsorship deals at you. And actually, 2024 is an Olympics year. You can turn yourself into a branding powerhouse by year-end.
I think this is the best answer so far. Get a tryout at a local athletics club, start breaking the world 100m record, you'll get famous REALLY fast. Or win say the London Marathon as a complete unknown. The money would roll in, and it would be pretty fun.
Does "best in the world" mean "better than the current #1" or "impossibly good to the point of omnipotence in the sport".
Like for poker, does that mean just barely better than whoever, or literally wins every single hand to the mathematical maximum possible because you can see the future and have a supercomputer for a brain.
Like for poker, does that mean just barely better than whoever, or literally wins every single hand to the mathematical maximum possible because you can see the future and have a supercomputer for a brain.
Basketball so I can get that guaranteed NBA money and then be a bum earning a good salary for 3-4 years traveling country until my team buys me out haha
Pretty sure Golf would be the only one you'd be able to get an invite to the majors year one and even have a chance at getting noticed and guaranteeing big prize pools alongside PGA pros year one...
You aren't breaking into any other major league sport year one, even if you show off as a phenom.
At best you'd get a minor league contract for baseball, d league access in the NBA, whatever the minor equivalents are for Hockey and Soccer, and no NFL team is drafting you off the street for big bucks.
But golf... You can participate in invitationals, and maybe get noticed for big PGA tournaments throughout the year. If you win all the majors as a no body, you'd likely end the year with massive endorsements that easily net you 8 figures when all is said and done by years end if not 9 figures depending on how good those endorsement deals are. (because im assuming after the year ends, you probably lose all those endorsements when everyone realizes you aren't good anymore, so you'd still at least have the 8 figures you likely won from multiple major wins.)
unless Poker counts... you could rack up easy millions throughout the year. but also being the best poker player doesn't take the risk of luck out of the equation.
You aren't breaking into any other major league sport year one, even if you show off as a phenom.
At best you'd get a minor league contract for baseball, d league access in the NBA, whatever the minor equivalents are for Hockey and Soccer, and no NFL team is drafting you off the street for big bucks.
But golf... You can participate in invitationals, and maybe get noticed for big PGA tournaments throughout the year. If you win all the majors as a no body, you'd likely end the year with massive endorsements that easily net you 8 figures when all is said and done by years end if not 9 figures depending on how good those endorsement deals are. (because im assuming after the year ends, you probably lose all those endorsements when everyone realizes you aren't good anymore, so you'd still at least have the 8 figures you likely won from multiple major wins.)
unless Poker counts... you could rack up easy millions throughout the year. but also being the best poker player doesn't take the risk of luck out of the equation.
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On the plus side, track and long-distance running have "easy" unknown to pro qualifying rules like golf does. On the minus side, they don't pay nearly as well.
London Marathon 2024 prize money: How much will the winners get?
The 2024 London Marathon will break new ground with its equal distribution of prize money
www.independent.co.uk
It's hard because it's near impossible to be taken seriously in 365 days UNLESS it means I can be a 7'8+ giant and get a nice undrafted NBA contract in like 3 months of hype videos.
Boxing/MMA unfortunately won't work, 365 days I can at best be like 4-0 or 5-0 and it's not enough to get anywhere.
Every other big team sports are impossible unless I can convince someone important enough that I'm the GOAT, like if I can shoot 100% 3 points I'll just make some livestream of me cooking everyone everywhere to prove I'm the absolute greatest, could easily get a contract because a 100% 3PT guy won't ever exist but I don't think the genie would give me that level of skill.
I think pro wrestling is doeable, we've seen guys explode on the scene in less than a year, enough to get like 300k/year or maybe bait Tony Khan into paying me.
Just need to find a sport with a open tournament with a gigantic prize
Boxing/MMA unfortunately won't work, 365 days I can at best be like 4-0 or 5-0 and it's not enough to get anywhere.
Every other big team sports are impossible unless I can convince someone important enough that I'm the GOAT, like if I can shoot 100% 3 points I'll just make some livestream of me cooking everyone everywhere to prove I'm the absolute greatest, could easily get a contract because a 100% 3PT guy won't ever exist but I don't think the genie would give me that level of skill.
I think pro wrestling is doeable, we've seen guys explode on the scene in less than a year, enough to get like 300k/year or maybe bait Tony Khan into paying me.
Just need to find a sport with a open tournament with a gigantic prize
Out of all of those, the NBA is probably easiest to cash in on this, because it's easier to get into the pros starting in lower leagues, and get your opportunities.
And NBA is no stranger to signing big contracts for long-term for relatively unproven, but in the moment great players.
After the year is up, and I'm garbage again, all that money is still on my contract guaranteed, so big upside.
And NBA is no stranger to signing big contracts for long-term for relatively unproven, but in the moment great players.
After the year is up, and I'm garbage again, all that money is still on my contract guaranteed, so big upside.
Darts or Snooker maybe. You could probably enter every tournament available for a year, not get any fatigue because they're not strenuous sports and get some decent paydays. Certainly not millions but it seems the most realistic to actually be able to enter proper tournaments within a year.
Being an Olympic athlete isn't lucrative UNTIL you get sponsorships. Pretty sure most of them have to pay their way to the games even.
the answer is boxing...you just knock out enough people to fight canelo alvarez and you're golden. but i'm all set with traumatic brain injuries, so there would need to be a magical no-CTE clause.
OP
OP
Good discussion y'all. To be clear, I don't think you're like, magic magic.
Think of the best sportsperson that sport has ever seen- that's you, on a year long hot streak. Maybe that makes you the GOAT because noone else kept it up for a full year. But it's not like you're automatically scoring goals, getting three pointers, drawing a royal flush every time, because life is like that.
I've had a weird thought of if competitive fishing is viable. There's £100k in at least one contest, and maybe off season you can just Dave the Diver it and catch some rare ones. Though I suppose subject to luck not being magically modified, you'd probably not find anything all that special.
Yeah I think it's golf for this reason too. We've seen amateurs guys do surprisingly well on majors after getting an invite, so your genie-fied self should be more than okay.
Like I said, I think all team sports, olympic asides, are out of the equation, and I think we're all agreed there's not that much money in that.
Boxing is interesting, though with the gaps between fights. I'd say Dana White is enough of a memelord to give a UFC PPV based on hype only but you wouldn't be getting properly paid, so all for naught.
Streaming is a big answer for these, and you'd get merch after a few months sure, if you have a good marketing team. But it's so transient you'd need to be a media enterprise guru to make the most of it.
Yeah they only get like $10/20k dollars for their medals, less even. The World Athletics Comission is already getting flack for deciding to give $50k to every track and field gold madellist at the Olympics. I think it's unviable for the purposes of the challenge, but hey, if you live like Usain Bolt for a year, hell, even the autumn after your big win, you are having an incredibly fun time!
Think of the best sportsperson that sport has ever seen- that's you, on a year long hot streak. Maybe that makes you the GOAT because noone else kept it up for a full year. But it's not like you're automatically scoring goals, getting three pointers, drawing a royal flush every time, because life is like that.
I've had a weird thought of if competitive fishing is viable. There's £100k in at least one contest, and maybe off season you can just Dave the Diver it and catch some rare ones. Though I suppose subject to luck not being magically modified, you'd probably not find anything all that special.
Yeah I think it's golf for this reason too. We've seen amateurs guys do surprisingly well on majors after getting an invite, so your genie-fied self should be more than okay.
Like I said, I think all team sports, olympic asides, are out of the equation, and I think we're all agreed there's not that much money in that.
Boxing is interesting, though with the gaps between fights. I'd say Dana White is enough of a memelord to give a UFC PPV based on hype only but you wouldn't be getting properly paid, so all for naught.
Streaming is a big answer for these, and you'd get merch after a few months sure, if you have a good marketing team. But it's so transient you'd need to be a media enterprise guru to make the most of it.
Yeah they only get like $10/20k dollars for their medals, less even. The World Athletics Comission is already getting flack for deciding to give $50k to every track and field gold madellist at the Olympics. I think it's unviable for the purposes of the challenge, but hey, if you live like Usain Bolt for a year, hell, even the autumn after your big win, you are having an incredibly fun time!
Poker will have ups and down certainly but if you are the best in the world you will be so far ahead of standard casino fare that you should very easily stay on an upward monetary incline. You enter tournaments where you cash and win a few here and there. The thing about poker is unless you have an ego you don't try to play against the best players, you try and play the worst players with the biggest bankrolls. To excel at any of these other sports it comes down to trying to beat other greats, but poker is filled with people with too much money and not enough humility.
Poker will be a grind, but I think it is the safest bet and has the highest floor. You can literally start working towards building your nest egg on day 1 of 365 and each day you can choose to grind or not. Your fate is in your hands big picture wise. A smart player will manage the stakes they play at to be able to take the hits when you lose. I don't think poker has the highest ceiling, but I think it feels the most controllable. Especially if you live some where you can play poker online.
These other sports you are betting hard on winning a qualifier and having that catapult your run. With poker a bad day is just a bad day, with proper bankroll management you sustain it and get back on the horse the next day. Your bankroll will scale the rate at which you can make money so early days won't be lucrative, but as the OP has said this year doesn't make winning your first tournament or something a certainty. With poker you will constantly get a chance to bite at the apple.
OP
OP
Hey if your agent can get that booked for you in a year, they're the one with genie magic not you, lol
For all the poker answers, it's one of the worst choices.
The variance in poker and this being just a year makes it a meh choice. You may be the best but if you don't have a sufficient bankroll you'll be wiped out. On top of that it's very hard to scale from a small amount of money to a large amount within a year.
Some of the best in the world such as Doug Polk have attempted $100 to 10k challenges. They rarely succeed them within the year.
My choice is Backgammon. Variance is much lower as you're only limited to die rolls. As well it's 1v1 which again reduced the variance. As well it's easy to scale up from money matches as the backgammon community can play large.
The variance in poker and this being just a year makes it a meh choice. You may be the best but if you don't have a sufficient bankroll you'll be wiped out. On top of that it's very hard to scale from a small amount of money to a large amount within a year.
Some of the best in the world such as Doug Polk have attempted $100 to 10k challenges. They rarely succeed them within the year.
My choice is Backgammon. Variance is much lower as you're only limited to die rolls. As well it's 1v1 which again reduced the variance. As well it's easy to scale up from money matches as the backgammon community can play large.
Assuming I'd get to fight all the best fighters within that year and no drawn out periods of will they/won't they fight speculation... I'd definitely go for boxing.
Sponsorships could prove to be more lucrative than prize money.
Getting to the big league's could be really difficult for a lot of sports and the calendar year restriction - as opposed to just a period of a year - also proves problematic for a number of sports.
I'd argue for something like athletics. In 2024, I could enter a local athletics competition and obliterate Usain Bolt's world records. And since I'm the best ever, I go on and do the same for the 400m, long jump and triple jump.
A local competition would gain me an instant global profile. Nike and the major shoe and apparel brands would absolutely be courting me. I'm not going to earn a tonne of prize money - although the Diamond League can be lucrative - but I'm pretty sure I could pull at least an eight-figure sponsorship deal.
Basketball is another reasonable choice. An amateur could play their way into the NBA via pro-ams and Summer League. And if I'm better than Nicola Jokic or Luka Doncic then I'm absolutely going to get significant sponsorship and a long-term contract (which will in time be viewed as the single worst contract in NBA history). The problem with the NBA is that it runs from from October to July and I think it'd be difficult to play your way onto a team during a half finished season.
Getting to the big league's could be really difficult for a lot of sports and the calendar year restriction - as opposed to just a period of a year - also proves problematic for a number of sports.
I'd argue for something like athletics. In 2024, I could enter a local athletics competition and obliterate Usain Bolt's world records. And since I'm the best ever, I go on and do the same for the 400m, long jump and triple jump.
A local competition would gain me an instant global profile. Nike and the major shoe and apparel brands would absolutely be courting me. I'm not going to earn a tonne of prize money - although the Diamond League can be lucrative - but I'm pretty sure I could pull at least an eight-figure sponsorship deal.
Basketball is another reasonable choice. An amateur could play their way into the NBA via pro-ams and Summer League. And if I'm better than Nicola Jokic or Luka Doncic then I'm absolutely going to get significant sponsorship and a long-term contract (which will in time be viewed as the single worst contract in NBA history). The problem with the NBA is that it runs from from October to July and I think it'd be difficult to play your way onto a team during a half finished season.
We're on a gaming forum and y'all think luck is intangible? It's a stat that maximizes payouts with other intangible goodies like crit chances.
You found a genie, you are the best at whatever sport you wished for for an entire year. You're probably on an all luck build.
You found a genie, you are the best at whatever sport you wished for for an entire year. You're probably on an all luck build.
This was my guess about poker. Even if you're really good a couple bad nights could wipe out your entire bankroll. You make a million dollars but then lose the tournament that has a million dollar buy in. Even if you were perfect before hand you just now lost all your money.
College Basketball. Join a small school as a walk on, go viral dominating because you're better than any NBA player, then enter the transfer portal and get that NIL money.
