Sports Players and Endorsements

Endorsement Blog Post

Jonathan Towes

Endorsements: $1.2 million

The Blackhawks captain became one of the most marketable players in the NHL after winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy in 2010. He has endorsement deals with Bauer Hockey, Canadian Tire, Chevrolet and Lemonhead.

The Bauer Hockey, Inc. announced that Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews  joined the company's roster of athletes, becoming the latest elite player to ink an official endorsement deal with the world's leading designer and manufacturer of hockey equipment. Toews, signed a five-year deal with the company, he exclusively wore Bauer equipment during the 2010-2011 NHL season and worked closely with Bauer's product development team to provide insight and feedback into future product direction.

Michael Jordan

The Chicago Bulls legend earned more money in 2013 than any athlete, active or retired, except for boxer Floyd Mayweather, Forbes reported. Moreover, sales for Nike's Jordan Brand reached $2.7 billion last year. The exact terms of Jordan's deal with Nike have not been disclosed, so it is impossible to know just how much he earns, but ESPN's Darren Rovell placed the number at more than $100 million in 2013. Forbes estimates Jordan's current net worth at around $750 million.

David Ortiz

Red Sox DH David Ortiz is "likely to get a lot smaller in the marketing world" after a N.Y. Times report claims he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during the '03 season, according to Jenn Abelson of the BOSTON GLOBE. Ortiz has earned $4.5M in endorsements over the years from companies including Reebok, JetBlue and Glaceau. Sports marketing analysts said that they expect businesses sponsoring Ortiz to "try to release him from contracts, especially because he suffered through a bad slump at the beginning of the season."

A-Rod

A-Rod received around $1 million a year from an endorsement deal from Nike, but that deal ended. He has various real estate investments but the bulk of his income is from baseball.

Peyton Manning

Manning is the NFL's top product endorser; earning $12 million annually off the field from companies like Buick, DirecTV, Gatorade and Papa John's. Manning became a Papa John's pizza franchisee in 2012 when he signed a deal to own 25 stores in the Denver area. Manning parted ways with Reebok this year after 12 years together, but added Nationwide to his endorsement portfolio.

Mike Trout

While the terms of Mike Trout's endorsement deals have not been made public, some sports marketers have estimated his portfolio, which includes Nike, Subway, BodyArmor SuperDrink and others, to be worth between $1.5 million and $3 million in 2013. Here are the brands associated with Trout:

NIKE

Nike batting gloves

Nike base shirt

Nike spikes

Nike running shoes

Nike sunglasses

Nike glove OLD HICKORY BAT CO.

Old Hickory Model 33.5 Pro Maple J143 (He has been swinging Old Hickory since 2009 but is not a paid endorser)

PHITEN

Phiten  

SUBWAY RESTAURANTS

Signed in January. Has appeared in two TV spots, including a celebrity-studded ad that premiered during the 2013 Super Bowl and featured fellow athletes and Subway's other "Famous Fans" including boxer Laila Ali, Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, Phillies slugger Ryan Howard and Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin.

BODYARMOR SUPERDRINK

Miguel Cabrera.

He only has two endorsement deals with Chrysler and New Balance.

Andrew Luck

Klipsch announced a four-year deal with the Colts quarterback to become its new public spokesman. Financial terms were not immediately available, though there is an option on the fourth year and the deal includes a provision that gives Luck a chance to design his own line of products, such as head phones.

He has also signed with Nike Inc., Gatorade and Electronic Arts Inc., the video-game maker.

Piracy involving MGM

Grokster Ltd. was a privately owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster peer-to-peer file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. The court ruled against Grokster's peer-to-peer file sharing program for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, effectively forcing the company to cease operations. The product was similar in look and feel to Kazaa which is marketed by Sharman Networks and Morpheus which was distributed by StreamCast. Grokster along with Morpheus and Kazaa are considered second-generation peer-to-peer file sharing programs because unlike their predecessor Napster these file sharing programs allowed users to trade files directly between one another without these transactions passing through a centralized server. Because Napster maintained this fraction of control over the transaction of files through its server it was ruled illegal because it should have exercised its power over the server to stop the sharing of copyright infringing files. Grokster and this second generation of peer-to-peer file sharing programs sought to avoid this legal obstacle