What’s a gold medal worth to an Olympic athlete? More than a million dollars in corporate sponsorships, a leading sports marketing agent says. Several athletes could qualify for superstar treatment as the Games draw to a close, Elliott Kerr, president of Mississauga-based Landmark Sport Group, said Thursday. “We have a number of athletes – not a lot but a few – who should be able to generate in excess of seven figures from these Games,” said Kerr, whose agency represents multiple medal winner Cindy Klassen. The speedskater signed a seven-figure deal after the 2006 Games. But an agent who represents corporate sponsors cautions that Canada’s athletes and their agents need to be realistic.
Despite the incredible popularity of the Vancouver Olympics, Canada is a small country with limited sponsorship opportunities, said Keith McIntyre of K. Mac & Associates in Burlington. While athletes south of the border can command multimillion-dollar deals, it’s rare for a Canadian medal winner to earn more than $500,000 from corporate deals, he said.
In 2006, Randy Stein, a partner with Grip Media in Toronto, told the Star that past Olympic medalists, including Gaétan Boucher, Catriona Le May Doan and Silken Laumann, could command between $2,500 and $10,000 for speaking engagements after their Olympic success. Some athletes go into the Games with multiple deals secured. Forbes magazine reported recently that U.S. snowboarder Shaun White went into the Games with $7.5 million (U.S.) he earned from sponsors last year, including Burton, Target, Oakley and Red Bull.
South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na, coached by Canadian figure skating great Brian Orser, was second on Forbes’ list of top earners. Going into the Games, her sweetheart status had already earned $7.5 million (U.S.) from sponsors, including Hyundai Motor, Kookmin Bank and Procter & Gamble. Not every athlete cashes in. In 2008, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt told the Star’s Rick Westhead that four years after his gold medal performance, he was pulling in between $35,000 and $40,000 a year. “I remember watching shampoo commercials with (cyclist) Curt Harnett and an IBM commercial with Silken Laumann and I thought I might be able to do that, too,” Shewfelt said. “I definitely thought I would get endorsements.” Still, the opportunity to land a lucrative contract has never been better for Canada’s Olympians, most marketers say.
Many of the Games’ biggest stars have been young amateurs with heart-warming stories. Some marketers are eyeing Joannie Rochette, the 24-year-old figure skater whose mother, Thérèse, died just before her performance, because her personal tragedy resonated so deeply with viewers. Gold medal ice-dancing pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were relative unknowns who are now seen as eminently bankable, Kerr said. Established and professional athletes went into the Games with corporate sponsors already on side. Often, those contracts contain bonus provisions that kick in when the athlete strikes gold, Kerr said. Moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau, the 22-year-old from Rosemere, Que., already had McDonald’s as a sponsor before the Games started.
Depending on the sport and the medal, the bonus can be worth as little as $10,000 and as much as $100,000, Kerr said. The corporate sponsor also wins if the athlete scores a medal. Some companies choose to “speculate on an athlete before the competition to hedge their bets, sign that athlete prior to competition with their fingers crossed that athlete does really well and what they have done is bought something under market value,” said Garnet Nelson, a managing partner at Altius Sport Marketing in Vancouver.
Other sponsors wait to see what happens during the Games, he said, a strategy that can end up costing them more if the athlete’s success sparks a bidding war. “Obviously they are going to have to pay a bit more, but they don’t have to speculate on whether that athlete is going to medal or not,” Nelson said. So, just what makes an athlete bankable? It’s often a combination of things, the athletes’ agents and corporate marketers say. Do they compete in a popular sport? Are they personable and engaging off the podium? Can they extend the win beyond the Olympics into world championships? When they retire, can they maintain their profile through public speaking engagements or sports commentating on TV, like Le May Doan? All of this affects the size and type of deal they can expect to sign. Among corporate sponsors, there are basically three kinds, says Alan Middleton, a marketing professor with York University’s Schulich School of Business.
There are those directly involved in the sport, who will supply equipment; those who contribute indirectly to the athletes’ well-being by providing food; and those who simply want their brand associated with someone young and accomplished, Middleton says.