The Endorsement Game

If you haven’t done it yet, check out SI’s Fortunate 50, which breaks down athletes’ earnings (salary or winnings) and endorsements and totals them to find the richest athletes. Tiger Woods has been number one since SI began keeping track 5 years ago and has brought in a whopping 100 million dollars two-years running—most of it due to endorsements. Surprising? Not really.

What is surprising, however, is the performance of baseball players on the list—especially the dearth of endorsement money that major leaguers take in. There are ten baseball players in the top but their spots are earned because of high salaries rather than endorsement deals and four of those ten are paid by the deep pockets of the Steinbrenner family. Alex Rodriguez, arguably the game’s best player, took in only $6 million and Derek Jeter, arguably the face of baseball, took in $8 million. Why is it that the top endorsement earners come predominantly from golf (Tiger and Phil Mickelson are 1 and 2), basketball (LBJ is third with $28 million), and NASCAR (Dale Earnhardt Jr. raked in $22 million and Jeff Gordon $15 million)? After all, baseball is America’s game—indeed it’s our national pastime. Can baseball players not sell a product? Is this an early warning sign of baseball’s dwindling popularity?

While MLB could certainly stand to improve its own marketing strategy, I think the discrepancies are due to the fact that sports like golf, basketball and NASCAR naturally lend themselves to successful endorsement campaigns. Golf is an affluent sport and there are an endless number of expensive golf gadgets and non-golfing products such as cars that match golf’s fan-base. Furthermore, it’s a relatively pure and drama-free sport so it’s low risk and doesn’t scare off potential sponsors. Plus, I can’t imagine Randy Johnson being the face of Buick, let alone KPMG.

The basketball industry, in my opinion, is successful because it has been able to market its products in a way that has transcended the basketball court and has landed in people’s everyday lives. For instance, you won’t see a kid walking through the classroom halls in a pair of baseball spikes but you will see Nike Air Jordan’s all over the place. Indeed, basketball is probably the king at making its players endorsement rich. Even Carmelo Anthony, who should be product poison after his most recent antics, pulls down $9.5 million and hasn’t lost an endorsement yet. For some reason, basketball has been able to maintain high endorsement levels despite a constant struggle with player behavior and the league’s image.

And then there’s NASCAR—our country’s most popular sport. Have you ever seen one of those vehicles, or their driving suits? Have you ever heard a driver speak in an interview? Talk about sponsor heaven!

I’m not saying that baseball should paint sponsor logos all over their uniforms. But baseball is behind in the endorsement game. For me, baseball needs to define more clearly who it is. Getting more creative and reaching out to sponsors that connect with baseball’s fan base will only serve to help them. Other sports—whether you like them or not—seem to have distinct and definable identities. It’s not an identity crisis for baseball, per se; but it could stand to do some soul searching.