Selling Points: James and Wade Striking It Rich With Endorsement Deals
By James Walker, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Feb. 9–CLEVELAND — Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell never worried about jersey sales.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird didn’t compete for fans in China and Japan.
Michael Jordan expanded the horizon of NBA celebrity by attaining worldwide fame on his way to six titles in the 1990s, and current megastars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, rivals from the same draft class who compete hard on and off the court, inherited that landscape.
Although their popularity probably doesn’t keep James or Wade awake at night, both are proving to be naturals on the basketball court and in sports marketing, and they are expected to be at the top of both realms for a long time.
Whether it’s talent, jersey sales or endorsements deals, James and Wade are usually linked as 1A and 1B. Tonight, they share the spotlight again as Wade’s Miami Heat goes head-to-head with James’ Cleve-land Cavaliers in a nationally televised game in Quicken Loans Arena.
“I think it’s good for the sport of basketball,” James said of the rivalry. “It’s always great to get two good guys that are friends off the court but go out there and play like they’re worst enemies when you’re on the court.”
The comparisons between James and Wade go beyond their jump shots. It’s difficult to go one day without seeing one of the two stars endorsing a product or displaying his acting skills on television.
Since he entered the league in 2003 as a much-hyped high schooler, James has been the NBA’s runaway king when it comes to marketing, and he still owns a lion’s share. But Wade is beginning to make headway.
The Sports Business Resource Guide and Fact Book surveyed top sports executives in October 2006 to determine the NBA’s most marketable players. James was No. 1 with 28.4 percent of the vote and Wade was No. 2 with 24.4 percent.
Both players have the luxury of choosing what products they endorse. They have more creative control in their commercials and the ability to show off their personalities.
James displays his comical side, as evidenced in a series of Nike advertisements in which he plays four roles. Wade usually goes for smooth, low-key angles that are representative of himself.
“I think the one thing that we just try to do, if we’re going to get an endorsement, is to try to make it as (personal) as possible,” James said. “Every endorsement that I have, I want to do it.
“I’m not doing it because of the money. It’s the simple fact that I enjoy the things I do with Nike. I enjoy the things I do with Sprite and Coke and with all my other endorsements. And I think (Wade) is the same way.”
Their immense popularity and natural ability in front of the camera make both players a slam-dunk for advertisers.
“You have a whole segment of the population wishing that they were them,” said Columbus-based sports agent Jeff Chilcoat, who works for Sterling Management, a corporation that has brokered more than 1,000 endorsement deals for athletes. “They both connote an image that brands want to be associated with, and we haven’t read about either of these two players getting in any type of trouble. They have great smiles and they’ve created an image that’s valuable for corporate America.”
Wade has a shoe contract with Converse and endorsement deals with T-Mobile and Gatorade, to name a few. According to a recent BusinessWeek report citing anonymous sources, his endorsements total $15 million to $17 million.
Wade’s total is small change compared with the estimated $90 million endorsement deal James has with Nike, in addition to contracts with Sprite, Microsoft and several others that could bring his total to approximately $150 million.
So Wade still has work to be done, but in turn he has James playing catch-up on the court.
Alongside another recognizable figure in Shaquille O’Neal, Wade has three playoff appearances (compared with James’ one), an NBA Finals MVP award and, most important, a championship ring. He was recently named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, and his jersey sales this season rank second, ahead of James, who is third, and behind Kobe Bryant.
Still, fans made James the leading vote-getter for the 2007 All-Star Game with more than 2.5 million votes, the second most ever tabulated, according to the NBA. Wade was fourth with more than 2 million votes.
Those are numbers even Chamberlain and Russell would never have contemplated.
Jwalker@dispatch.com
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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