While phenom Michael Phelps still has 3 finals races to go, it is pretty clear that he has already put himself in a new stratosphere in regards to future endorsement dollars. As of now, Phelps has deals with Speedo, Visa, Omega and PowerBar. He currently earns $5 million annually from these endorsements.
If Phelps does capture 8 gold medals and breaks the record for the most gold medals in a single Olympics, he will undoubtedly become one of the most sought after athletes from a marketing standpoint.
Now, some may say there is no way an Olympic athlete who is only in the limelight every 4 years will receive endorsement deals equal to the main stream superstars. Well those people are very wrong. Phelps has two unique factors that separate him from most of the stars in Nascar, the NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, golf, and tennis. Phelps is not only backed by an entire country, but he is also known worldwide. He is a symbol of dedication, success and dominance.
Athletes that have worldwide recognition are few and far between. Tiger, Beckham, Lebron, and Federer are certainly the cream of the crop. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Phelps soon finds himself among that company. The $5 million a year that he currently receives certainly can double when these Olympics conclude and the countdown to 2012 begins. When Michael Phelps calls it a career, he will go down as of the highest endorsed athletes in sports history.
The endorsement industry has certainly come a long way when you have an Olympic swimmer making a splash. His agent, Peter Carlisle, has made a name for himself in the niche market of action sports. Some of his other clients include Kelly Clark, Ross Powers, Danny Kass and Chris Klug.
Mr. Carlisle will certainly be a very busy man in the near future.
2 replies on “Gold Medals + World Records = $$$$$$$$$$.”
Ye, that’s ture, Phelps has win the 8th gold medal, and he is undoubtedly the winningest man of this Olympic games, even ever. As he is so famous around the whole world, and he looks so young and sound, a lot of companis are hoping to build some relationship with him, including money relationship.
Mr. Schackman your post describing the potential success of Michael Phelps was riveting. I usually visit SportsAgentBlog.com regularly but rarely do I read articles about Olympic champions. The way you described Michael Phelps and his success was very interesting but the part that stood out the most was when you begin to discuss his success compared to other athletes that have success in the United States. “Now, some may say there is no way an Olympic athlete who is only in the limelight every 4 years will receive endorsement deals equal to the main stream superstars. Well those people are very wrong. Phelps has two unique factors that separate him from most of the stars in Nascar, the NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, golf, and tennis. Phelps is not only backed by an entire country, but he is also known worldwide. He is a symbol of dedication, success and dominance”. I truly enjoyed this quote because it was a direct argument about why Mr. Phelps has the potential to be one of the biggest endorsed athletes around the world. If I had to choose one thing, I hope that in your future articles you discuss the actual deals (if available) and how the athlete, in this case Phelps, works with the company’s brand and how they plan to use him in their marketing efforts. Overall I enjoyed your article because it was a breakdown Michael Phelps potential success and how he will be able to link his success in the pool to success in the endorsement market. Thank you for this interesting article and I look forward to reading more in the future.