With three TV jobs (and counting), the Pro Football Hall of Famer makes his days seem longer than 24 hours – and rewards himself with a watch collection worth millions of dollars. But at 53, he is already dreaming of retiring. Again.

By Simone Melvin, Forbes Contributor

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FRESH FROM A Wednesday recording of Good morning America, Michael Strahan heads into downtown Manhattan, clutching two leather watch cases in the crook of his left arm as if he’s just recovered from a fumble. Each of them is stamped with his initials MAS and owns four watches with a total value of almost $1 million. “I just grabbed a bunch,” Strahan says of his collection, which includes around 40 watches, including Audemars Piguet, De Bethune, Hublot and plenty of Rolex Daytonas.

“A Daytona was my first big watch purchase when I got into the NFL. If it says “Rolex Daytona,” then I have it,” he says. “I think it’s like me: durable, sustainable and versatile.”

At 53, Strahan has undoubtedly stood the test of time. He spent 15 years (1993-2007) as a defensive end for the New York Giants. He became one of the most dominant pass rushers in history. In 2014, seven years after helping the Giants win Super Bowl XLII, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Going pro was never a given for Strahan, who was born in Houston but grew up in Germany, where his father was a major in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. “I was just hoping to have a job after I graduated college,” he says of his years at Texas Southern University, where he starred as a star defender in his uncle’s football shoes.

This mentality has obviously remained with him since he hung up his helmet in 2008. He joined that Fox NFL Sunday He committed to the team immediately afterward, and in 2012 he beat an all-star talent roster to become a co-host Live! with Kelly Ripa. Four years later, he landed his current role as co-host of Good morning America And added a side hustle as host The $100,000 pyramid. All in all, Forbes estimates that his TV work earns Strahan at least $20 million a year, significantly more than the $6.9 million he averaged on the field in his final ten seasons with the Giants.

“I never thought my career would be what it was or would continue to be,” says Strahan, wearing a $76,000 John Mayer Rolex. “I’ve always liked beautiful things, but I never thought I could do this afford lots of beautiful things. It gave me an appreciation for what I have because I know what it’s like to always want something and not be able to have it.”

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In addition to his watch collection – which Forbes Estimated value is around $2 million – Strahan also collects cars and liquor, but he says watches are “like works of art” that also measure success. “If you’ve ever gone into a factory to see how a watch is made, you see how much craftsmanship and precision goes into it. So much thought goes into making these things that we just throw on our wrist.”

For example, when Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin invited Strahan on a trip to space in 2021, he wore two Timepieces with celestial significance: a $44,600 Rolex GMT-Master II with a meteorite dial and a $125,000 Rolex GMT-Master II Star Trek–inspired De Bethune clock. “Someone might say, ‘Well, I have this electronic clock, it tells the same time,'” he says. “Yes, it maintains the same time – but it has no personality whatsoever. And for me, a watch is about personality.”

He also applies this philosophy to watch gifting. A few years ago, he gave Constance Schwartz-Morini, co-founder of his talent and production company Smac Entertainment, a yellow-dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual, calling her “the sunshine in my life.”

Schwartz-Morini met Strahan while working for the NFL’s marketing team. She then moved into talent management, representing Snoop Dogg before doing business with Strahan. Founded in 2011, Smac produces content and manages talent such as Wiz Khalifa, Deion Sanders and Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Smac’s current CEO, Schwartz-Morini, says she tries to use Strahan’s time only when necessary. “He’s committed to everything he’s passionate about,” she says. “Otherwise he won’t do it.”

Last year, Strahan took on a new challenge – the world of investing – alongside billionaire Marc Lasry, co-founder of the $12.2 billion New York City-based private equity firm Avenue Capital Group, which is launching a new sports fund who was looking for opportunities in emerging sports leagues and teams. Strahan and Lasry met more than 15 years ago and bonded over their shared love of watches.

In 2021, they participated in a $165 million fundraising round for new and pre-owned luxury watch retailer The 1916 Company, which also included Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bill Ackman and other famous faces. “We became friends, and every time we saw each other I noticed that he had a different watch and vice versa,” Lasry says.

Strahan joins Avenue Capital’s team of other athlete investors – including Steph Curry, Lindsey Vonn and British soccer star Harry Kane. “Because of who Michael is, people show him a lot of deals and he will forward the ones he thinks are interesting to us,” Lasry says. “At the end of the day, the real reason we’re able to do some of these deals is because people on the other side want to work with Michael.”

Although he just increased his workload at Avenue Capital, Strahan, a father of four, says he has a “window of opportunity” for retirement now that he’s a retiree. “I have a soft landing in mind,” he says. “I’m not going to go cold turkey on everything, but I see myself slowly dropping different things until eventually you just find me on the golf course.”

After all, the passionate watch collector learned a painful lesson about the value of time last year. His youngest daughter was born in October 2023. Isabella was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumor at the age of 19. While she is now in remission, the ordeal has given Strahan a new perspective not found on a Paul Newman dial.

“Time is the one thing that once you’re gone, you can never get it back,” he says. “As a father, I’m very aware of that. This made me think more about the end of my career – I don’t want to be someone on TV when I’m 80. It is an absolute joy and privilege to be able to have this option. But I can get more of everything in life except time.”

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