Tanya Lee | A ‘Sterling’ example
Jamaica-born Manchester City and England forward Raheem Sterling is back in the UK headlines this week, but it’s another round of discussion around what is likely to be a massive endorsement deal with soda giant, Pepsi.
Sterling seems on the verge of becoming one of football’s top earners as he is tipped to join the likes of Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba as part of the iconic brand’s Euro 2020 advertising campaign.
Messi is, of course, football’s top earner for the 2019-20 season, who Forbes estimates raked in a massive US$127 million (J$17.2 billion), US$35 million (J$4.7 billion) of which is from sponsorship deals with adidas, Gatorade, Huawei, Mastercard, and, of course, Pepsi.
A Pepsi endorsement deal would put Sterling in stellar company, as he joins a signature list of global legends like Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Madonna, Britney Spears, and David Beckham from previous campaigns.
COURTED BY BRANDS
Just last month, the Telegraph reported that Sterling was being courted by Nike’s Air Jordan brand as they seek to capture more significant market share. A signing with Air Jordan would make Sterling one of only two footballers to represent the Jordan brand, with the other being Neymar Jr.
But lucrative endorsement deals are likely to put the 24-year-old in good position to crack the Forbes 100 highest earning athletes in 2020. At present, only 11 footballers are on the 2019 list with Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar occupying the top three spots, respectively. The other eight are Pogba, Andrés Iniesta, Alexis Sanchez, Kylian Mbappe, Mesut Özil, Oscar, Gareth Bale, and Mohamed Salah.
Long gone are the days when endorsements were seen as supplemental to the athlete’s financial arsenal, with many now making more from endorsements than they do from their player salaries.
LeBron James’ Earnings
More than 60 per cent of LeBron James’ earnings are from his endorsement deals, with the Business Insider reporting that he makes over US$53 million (just over J$7 billion) in ambassador deals with Beats Electronics, RIMOWA, Coca-Cola, KIA Motors, and Nike. His NBA salary is US$36 million (almost J$4.9 billion).
Over in the world of tennis, Roger Federer is banking big off the court, with only US$7.4 million (J$1 billion) in salaries over the last year, and a whopping US$86 million (J$11.6 billion) from his endorsements with Credit Suisse Group, Wilson, Barilla, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, and Uniqlo.
Tiger Woods also makes less than US$10 million (J$1.3 billion) in salaries from golf, and US$54 million ($7.3 billion) in endorsement deals with the likes of Upper Deck, TaylorMade, Monster Energy, Hero Motocorp, Nike, and Rolex accounting for his net worth of close to US$800 million (over J$108 billion). Woods has taken many brand hits over the years with public intoxication and his widely publicised marital issues, but he has rebounded on each occasion, most recently through his win at the Master’s tournament last April.
But while some of the biggest names in sports continue to bank big outside of their salaries, boxing’s biggest names continue to buck that trend. The world’s best pound-for-pound boxer, Canelo Alvarez, is making major money moves fight after fight based on his massive pay-per-view deals. He made a whopping US$92 million (almost J$12.5 billion) in salaries last year, and only US$2 million (J$271 million) from endorsements with Everlast and DAZN. This places Alvarez fourth on the Globe’s list of richest athletes on the planet.
Tanya Lee has over 10 years’ expertise as a Caribbean sports marketer and is also an athlete manager and publicist.