A look back at how athletes began signing lucrative endorsement deals
How did athletes become brands?
LeBron James signed one of the most lucrative endorsement deals when he was still a teenager. He started to brand himself before he could drive a car and will earn at least $30 million per year from Nike for the rest of his life. Kevin Durant, Christiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Maria Sharapova all signed similar blockbuster deals. But how did we get to the place where sports endorsement are so rewarding?
Sports endorsement deals all started with cigarettes and Louisville Sluggers. The first athlete to make himself a brand was Honus Wagner, one of the greatest shortstops of all-time. During his time with the Louisville Colonels, he befriended Bud Hillerich, who produced baseball bats with “Louisville Slugger” engraved on them.
In 1900, Wagner changed teams, but remained friends with Hillerich. He would go on to win NL Batting Champion in 1900, 1903 and 1904. In 1905, he signed a deal that allowed Hillerich to use Wagner’s signature on baseball bats, which he sold for $75.
American Tobacco also used baseball players to promote its cigarette brand by placing baseball cards in their packs. In fact, as early as 1874, Red Stocking Cigars used the growing popularity of George Wright to promote their product and the newly relocated Boston Red Stockings. During that time period, Nichols & McDonald Boston Cigar makers used a 14 x 10 poster of Wright for their advertising poster.
Wagner was truly innovative in recognizing himself as a brand by going after American Tobacco for using his card without his permission. He stopped them from using his card and it’s rumored that he asked for an endorsement fee. There’s another rumor that he didn’t want children buying tobacco products just to get his card.
Nevertheless, this dispute paved the way for mutual endorsement agreements between athletes and brands.
In 1922, pro golfer Gene Sarazen signed an endorsement deal with Wilson Sporting Goods for 75 years. At the time, it was the longest running endorsement deal. Sarazen developed a “glide through sand” golf club, which he debuted at the 1932 British Open. After winning, Wilson sold 50,000 R-90 clubs. It was the most popular sand wedge in golf.
He would become the pioneer for lengthy endorsement deals and paved the way for lifetime deals signed by David Beckham and LeBron James.
In 1921, the Converse Rubber Shoe Company signed the endorsement deal that would change sports and sports apparel. Baller turned salesman Chuck Taylor became Converse’s first player-endorser and became the name behind basketball’s first sneaker, the “Chuck Taylors”. Basketball players who took part in the NBA’s first game in 1949 had already grown up wearing Chuck Taylors.
After Chuck Taylor, Jack Purcell, a Canadian world champion badminton player, joined Converse as its second major endorser. Their partnership started in 1935 and put his name to the now signature badminton shoe.
The first female athlete to leverage her prowess and popularity was Babe Didrickson. She was an All-American basketball player, Olympic track and field gold medalist, tennis, and softball player. In 1933, when she appeared in a Chicago Daily News ad for Chrysler Dodge, she was dubbed the “World’s Greatest Woman Athlete.”
She would go on to sign deals with P. Goldsmith Sons Sporting Goods, Wilson Sporting Goods, and Timex. She also became the second woman to appear on a Wheaties cereal box in 1935.
The first woman on a Wheaties Box was stunt pilot Eleanor Smith. She achieved the milestone in 1934 after setting speed, altitude and endurance records. Other prolific woman athletes to sign early endorsement deals were sharpshooter Anne Oakley, pro walker Madame Anderson, mountain climber Annie Smith Peck, and distance swimmer Gertrude Ederle.
These ladies had paid relationships with newspapers that wanted them to tell their stories. In 1897, Peck gave an exclusive account of her record-setting climb of the active Mexican volcano, Popocatepetl. Others, like Oakley, were paid to appear on posters.
In 1881, Oakley defeated her future husband, Francis Butler, in a shooting contest in Greenville, Ohio. She was then put on an advertisement for Buffalo Bills Wild West Show, making her one of the first female advertisement icons in promotional posters.
The first pro-athlete to sign a million-dollar deal was a professional bowler.
Don Carter was a dominant bowler during the the 50’s and 60’s when bowling was a very popular sport. In 1964, bowling manufacturer Ebonite utilized Carter’s fame, signing him to the first million-dollar endorsement deal in sports. They launched the popular Don Carter Gyro-Balanced ball.
The 50’s and 60’s ushered in an era of broadcasting unlike before. Players began capitalizing on the trend of some fans filling stadiums to millions watching from home. Once again, baseball would lead the way with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale negotiating hundred-thousand-dollar-deals after winning the 1965 World Series with L.A. Dodgers.
At the time, they were the largest deals in baseball history.
Converses made a return to the basketball scene in the 80s, capitalizing on the successes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. They debuted an iconic commercial in 1986, introducing the Converse Weapons.
Michael Jordan was a marvel on the basketball court, but he also kicked open the door for big-time endorsements across all sports. His NBA salary was pedestrian at best, earning just $2–3 million per year until late in his career. But in 2014, eleven years after retirement, Jordan earned $100 million from Nike.
From $75 to $5 billion, sports endorsements have truly become an industry of its own, many times paying out substantially more than player salaries.
Here are the largest endorsement in sports history, per Total Sportek:
15 Biggest Athlete Endorsement Deal In Sports
- Michael Jordan: NIKE $60m Share of revenue in “Nike Jordan” shoe series
- LeBron James: NIKE $30m Lifetime contract ($30 million a year plus share in shoe sales.
- Kevin Durant: NIKE $28.5m + over 10 year deal (2014–24)
- Cristiano Ronaldo: NIKE $21.7m, $105m+ over 5 year deal (2014–19)
- Lionel Messi: ADIDAS $20m, $140m over 7 year deal
- Tiger Woods: NIKE $20m, $100m over 5 year deal (2013–18)
- Kobe Bryant: NIKE $15m, $75m over 5 year deal (2014–19)
- Derrick Rose: ADIDAS $14m, $185m over 13 year deal (2012–25)
- Roger Federer: NIKE $12m, $120m over 10 year deal (2008–17)
- Neymar Jr: NIKE $9.5m, $105m over 11 year deal (2012–22)
- Rafael Nadal: NIKE $10m, $50m over 5 years deal (2014–18)
- Dwayne Wade: LI NIAN $10m, $100m over 10 year deal (2012–21)
- Damian Lillard: ADIDAS $10m, $100m 10 year deal (2014–23)
- Rory Mcllroy: NIKE $10m, $100m over 10 year deal (2013–22)
- Maria Sharapova: NIKE $8.5m, $70m over 8 year deal (2010–17)
