An 18-year-old basketball prodigy, raised in poverty and yet to play in his first professional game, has netted a $90m (?5m) sponsorship deal with Nike, the footwear and clothing company.
The contract with LeBron James, who stands 6ft 8in tall, is the second-biggest sport sponsorship deal ever. Only Nike's $125m deal with golfer Tiger Woods is larger.
The seven-year deal with the youngster is almost twice the size of Nike's agreement with his fellow basketball star Michael Jordan.
James, who will finish school next month, has been wildly hyped in the American media. He is expected to dominate the National Basketball Association when he starts playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.
A high school game featuring the player and shown on cable television drew an audience of almost 2m people.
Touts have been selling tickets to his high school games for $2,000 (?,200) each.
The intense level of interest in the player guaranteed that he would be the subject of a fierce bidding war between Nike and its chief rivals Adidas and Reebok.
His agent yesterday said that a line of LeBron James shoes would be in US sporting-goods stores before he made his professional debut on the court.
Raised in Akron, Ohio, James was the product of a broken home. He was born when his mother Gloria was 16, and his father Anthony McLelland was a casual boyfriend with an extensive criminal record.
The youngster once moved house six times in a year as his mother tried to find a job. As an eight-year-old, he missed 100 out of 162 days in school. In an interview with the Observer earlier this year, he said: "I saw drugs, guns, killings. It was crazy."
But his life has already changed. He now drives an $80,000 http://www.kobelebronshoes.com Humvee military truck.
The deal with James underlines the rapid inflation affecting sponsorship deals, which can make or break a sportswear firm. When Jordan signed his first deal with Nike in 1984, it was worth just $2.4m.
The tennis player Venus Williams has a $40m deal with Reebok, the biggest in women's sport.
Nike said that it dug deep to agree the deal because of James's "tremendous talent potential" as well as his "rare combination of showmanship and humility". In a prepared statement, James said: "Nike is the right fit and has the right product for me at the right time."
In addition to sponsorship, he is expected to get an $11m three-year contract with the Cavaliers.
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The contract with LeBron James, who stands 6ft 8in tall, is the second-biggest sport sponsorship deal ever. Only Nike's $125m deal with golfer Tiger Woods is larger.
The seven-year deal with the youngster is almost twice the size of Nike's agreement with his fellow basketball star Michael Jordan.
James, who will finish school next month, has been wildly hyped in the American media. He is expected to dominate the National Basketball Association when he starts playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.
A high school game featuring the player and shown on cable television drew an audience of almost 2m people.
Touts have been selling tickets to his high school games for $2,000 (?,200) each.
The intense level of interest in the player guaranteed that he would be the subject of a fierce bidding war between Nike and its chief rivals Adidas and Reebok.
His agent yesterday said that a line of LeBron James shoes would be in US sporting-goods stores before he made his professional debut on the court.
Raised in Akron, Ohio, James was the product of a broken home. He was born when his mother Gloria was 16, and his father Anthony McLelland was a casual boyfriend with an extensive criminal record.
The youngster once moved house six times in a year as his mother tried to find a job. As an eight-year-old, he missed 100 out of 162 days in school. In an interview with the Observer earlier this year, he said: "I saw drugs, guns, killings. It was crazy."
But his life has already changed. He now drives an $80,000 http://www.kobelebronshoes.com Humvee military truck.
The deal with James underlines the rapid inflation affecting sponsorship deals, which can make or break a sportswear firm. When Jordan signed his first deal with Nike in 1984, it was worth just $2.4m.
The tennis player Venus Williams has a $40m deal with Reebok, the biggest in women's sport.
Nike said that it dug deep to agree the deal because of James's "tremendous talent potential" as well as his "rare combination of showmanship and humility". In a prepared statement, James said: "Nike is the right fit and has the right product for me at the right time."
In addition to sponsorship, he is expected to get an $11m three-year contract with the Cavaliers.
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