Did LeBron James Just Cost Himself a $150 Million?

Did all this King James free agency overkill actually play out well for LeBron?  Right now, the only people in America that don't actually hate this guy is the tiny fan base of the Miami Heat.  But how will the fact that he's the new face of evil sports villainy play out over the course of the next few years in regards to his pocketbook?

Check out this article that say's that LeBron's blunder might just have cost him over $150 million.

James earned $28 million from endorsements in 2009, behind only golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. And James's 'Q' rating -- a measure of the number of people who both know him and view him favorably -- was a 34, placing him behind only quaterbacks Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, and Olympians Shaun White and Apolo Anton Ohno among active athletes.

...there are signs that public opinion on James has soured significantly. In an unscientific poll conducted by SI.com, 81 percent of respondents now claim to have a negative opinion of James, whereas 78 percent had a positive opinion prior to free agency.

But James may also have sullied his reputation among more neutral observers for the self-important and humorless way that he came to his decision, including a one-hour special on ESPN that was part newscast and part infomercial. Brett Favre saw his Q rating dip by 41 percent -- from 44 to 26 -- following his drawn out "retirement" process in 2008-09, which might be the most salient recent comparison.

Suppose that, had he stayed in Cleveland, James could expect to continue to earn $28 million per year in endorsement revenues for the next 20 years (including significant money after retirement, as is common for superstar athletes). Discounted at a rate of 10 percent per year, that income stream has a present value of $366 million to James. If an athlete's endorsement earnings are proportional to his positive Q rating, and James suffers the same 41 percent penalty that Favre did between 2008 and 2009, he will have reduced his earning potential by $150 million.

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