Joe Burrow, Blake Griffin among 20 athletes buying 104-acre Iowa farm

It used to be that a shoe deal or commercial with Nike was the pinnacle of off the field/court revenue for elite athletes. Heck, Michael Jordan was already a superstar on the court, but he became a global icon because of his shoes.

While shoe deals and more sports-related endeavors are still viable, it appears as if a group of athletes led by Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and NBA star Blake Griffin found themselves an outside-of-the-box and into the open field way of making money in 2023 and beyond.

Front Office Sports is reporting that these athletes are getting into farming. No, it doesn't sound like they'll be tilling the land or working tractors (yet) but a group of 25 athletes — give or take — is looking to purchase 104 acres of Iowa farmland in order to lease it to farmers and come away with a "single-digit-percentage annual return on the total investment."

Burrow and Griffin are the two biggest names that are part of this investment group but athletes such as Kevin Gausman, Anders Lee, Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton and Zach Ertz are also involved, amongst others.

The goal of this investment group is to purchase four more farms in the coming years. Apparently, watermelon farms in Oregon are a potential target because they are smaller parcels of land but can be leased at a higher per-acre price.

Thrifty!