Agents Speak About Olympians' Marketability

Darren Rovell, author of a great blog called Sports Biz, conducted an interview with Evan Morgenstein, the sports agent for Dara Torres, Nastia Liukin and Jason Lezak. The two discussed the business of sports in the context of the Olympics. Its focus on the future marketability of Olympians is what really drew me to post about it as it follows nicely with my post on former Olympians forking for their own slice of the endorsement pie. Here is the link to the full interview. Below are parts of the interview that I found particularly interesting.

Darren: She scored a 16.9 on the uneven bars today that was the highest score of anyone in any event. Mary Lou Retton is always that bar that 10 on the vault in 1984. What type of breakout performance do you really need to last beyond the normal 4 to 6 months that Olympians have before we start thinking about football season, and World Series and everything else?

Evan: Well it's funny, I look at Nastia as someone, sort of how I look at Magic Johnson and basketball, he redefined the position and I look as Nastia as someone that can redefine being a gymnast in the United States. Because of how she does what she does, the number of medals she can win, and the fact that she really has a pre-disposition to wanna go out there and do a lot of things for a lot of people.

Darren: Dara Torres, she's got the silver medal from her relay, she'll be in the 50-meter free that's her event this weekend. She's a 41 year old wonder child if you can say that, has deals with Toyota and Speedo, a book deal, reported $3M for two books. Does she have to win gold in order to really really cash in?

Evan: Not even a little bit. The fact that a 41-year-old mom showed up at the Olympics and is kicking the young kids butts? I mean, I love it. I get emails every single day from women in the 30-plus category who are dying to know Dara Torres. She's starting a revolution, she's going to be someone you never see and have an impact on that group of people before. And she is going to take this for the next 20 years and do some great things for women.

Darren: Is it just the U.S. market? Alot of people say coming to China -- maybe China falls after the Olympics in terms of where it is in this frenzied business height. But if she wins gold in the 50-meter free, does she have a chance to do stuff worldwide not only in the U.S. but here?

Evan: Well I hate to say this, but Americans aren't the only people getting old, so I think she's got opportunities all over the world.
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And here are a couple questions from Rovell’s interview with Michael Phelps’ agent Peter Carlisle.

Darren: Over time, what could [Phelps' efforts] be worth in between that seven and eight [gold medals]?

Peter: Well, I think he becomes a legend, if he gets to seven or eight. At that point, you've got to extrapolate the value out over the years and obviously you're talking hundreds of millions.

Darren: The percentage increase in terms of the deals. Some of his deals are up after these games. How does that change some things?

Peter: Annually, I would say that you're essentially doubling income annually. But again, the interesting thing will be if he's able to do the incredible, the value that will play out over the years. Some of those deals obviously will become longer term deals.