Rob Gronkowski was one of the star’s of New Year’s Eve.The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end was part of ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebrations, hosting the night alongside Dancing with the Stars Julianne Hough from Las Vegas.View Tweet: https://twitter.com/RobGronkowski?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHaving already teased that 2026 could yield an appearance on the dance spectacular, Gronk was a key part of the fun and festivities from Sin City.ABC’s coverage went from coast to coast and beyond, featuring performances and appearance in New York, Vegas, Chicago and Puerto Rico.It underlines Gronk’s ascent into the mainstream media – alongside his appearances on Fox Sport’s pregame NFL coverage after a stellar careerAlways in the spotlight, the former NFL star traded in touchdowns for 11 years and established himself as one of the greatest tight ends to play the game. Nine of those seasons came with the New England Patriots, before he finished up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.And Gronk did it all, in both New England and Tampa, with Tom Brady beside him.Together, Brady and Gronk won four Super Bowls, and combined for a ridiculous 105 touchdowns en-route to glory with both the Pats and the Bucs.Gronk eventually walked away from the NFL at the conclusion of the 2021 season, having previously announced retirement in 2019 before joining Brady in Tampa, with a string of personal records too.He boasts being the first tight end to lead the league in receiving touchdowns, which he did in 2011, and he also set the record for the most touchdown receptions by a tight end in season season, with 17.The second-round draft pick out of Arizona also became the first of his position to rack up 1,000-plus career postseason receiving yards, and smashed New England’s records for touchdown receptions (79) and most games with multiple scores (16).Gronk was one of the NFL’s greatest tight ends, and he made a fortune playing footballGettyGronk won four Super Bowls alongside Brady, with both the Pats and BucsGettyWhile Gronk was all business on the field, he was a colorful character off of it, too, and that made him incredibly marketable.Over the course of his 11 year NFL career, the tight end earned just shy of $72.5million from contracts alone.He has also made plenty more from endorsement deals, investments and other business ventures, which have now seen him land on TV.While Gronk, who who once threw the most intense first pitch in MLB history, has never disclosed the exact figures he made from joining forces with brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, JetBlue and Monster, he has previously revealed one thing. However with speculation that he could make a surprise comeback looking unrealistic, and a one-day contract to retire as Patriot far more likely, he revealed earlier this year that he did not touch a single NFL paycheckHe was also very marketable off the field, and made millions in endorsementsGettyHe’s now making a fortune as a beloved analyst with FoxGettyHe says he never spend any of his NFL money“I’m very frugal,” he revealed on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast last month.“I lived with a roommate for the first couple of years, I didn’t know how long the NFL was going to last.“I was a second round pick, on a four-year, $4m deal. I was like, ‘If I play this contract out, I’ll be set for life. I got $2m in the bank, I could make thousands off the interest.’“If I only played for three, four years, if I didn’t ball, if I wasn’t the player I thought I could be, whatever. I was still set for life.“I always wanted to save, and I used the money I was earning off the field to just spend on whatever I needed.Gronk famously never spent a dime of his NFL paycheck while playingGettyGronk continues to win off the field thanks to his forgotten investmentGettyDespite being smart with his money, the NFL legend continues to have funGetty“To this day, technically, I have never spent any of my NFL money.”Despite not spending a dime of his on-field earnings, Gronk still managed to have plenty of fun.He developed a reputation as the NFL’s ‘party king’ and even risked blowing his career before it had started when he fell asleep in a draft interview with Bill Belichick because he was hungover.Thankfully, the Pats drafted him anyway, and the rest is history.While he remained money smart during his NFL career and beyond, Gronk also had a forgotten investment that further boosted his fortune.He joined Apple as an investor back in 2014 and apparently, was so focused on football that he forgot about it.NFL's Greatest......Ranking the top 10......Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and moreTight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?The $69,000 he put into the company soon grew to be worth much more than that, and Gronk saw a $250,000 increase on his initial investment in just a few years.As of 2024, his Apple shares had skyrocketed to around $600,000. That’s certainly a decent amount of money to have in a forgotten account.In recent years, the legendary tight end has contributed to both Fox NFL Sunday and Fox NFL kickoff as a studio analyst.But with the retirement of Jimmy Johnson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who had been the face of Fox Sports and their NFL coverage for three decades, Gronk stepped up for the 2025 season with joining Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Michael Strahan alongside host Curt Menefee.As for that Dancing with the Stars ambition, he has not ruled it out and is eyeing up a tweak to schedules to give him the chance to flourish in the ballroom.“I’ve already done some rehearsals with her … but the problem is, it’s just so hard to do it because it’s during football season,” said Gronkowski, an analyst for Fox Sports.“I would never count it out, I don’t count things out that I enjoy and I enjoy dancing and watching ‘Dancing with the Stars.’“I would just leave it open for the future if it’s the right fit at the right time.”Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the offseason news, interviews and more.