>Get serious, our "big shoe deals, appearance fees, and
>endorsements contracts are based on performance,
>not fan participation.
That's ridiculous. Corporate CEO's, and by extension their
marketing departments (who decide who to pay how much),
are concerned with bottom line (earnings) and answering
to stockholders through the Board of Directors, who want to
know what is being done to enhance shareholder value.
In other words, is the stock price trending upward or
downward?
Therefore, as head of Marketing, I could care less (well, not as much you'd think,
unless I also happen to be a basketball fan or track fan) whether Michael scores 75
points, or whether MG
sprints a 9.62. Those data blips are just one of many, many
factors taken into account.
I only want to see the corrolation of how the combination
of performance and persona relates to sales.
(i.e. persona like boxer Oscar de la Hoya that scores high
with the public can offset performance, and low persona scores
like the 4x100 relay stuff can also offset performance (in
a negative way).
But it all boils down to corrolation to revenues for the
corporation.
People like Amy Acuff, Merlene Ottey and Anna Kournikova (tennis)
might be able to command more in endorsement deals than
the #1 ranked person in their event/sport, because they
bring more to the table. But they probably have to be in
the top-ten rankings to get a foot in the door to begin with.
Yes, there are performance incentives for records (like WR's)
in many contracts, but I'll bet you that Merlene or Amy could
command more for a WR than many other people in the top ten,
when it comes to negotiating terms into a contract.
It's not one-size-fits all.
At the elite end of track and field, ticket purchase and
merchandise purchase drives everything. No ticket sales equals
meet cancellation and loss of any earning power at all for the
athletes.
Performances- and "packaging" of those performances- only
serve to enhance ticket sales and merchandise sales.
Anything that DETRACTS from ticket sales and merchandise sales
is an encumbrance. If you want to be a professional, you have
to recognize that you get paid for enhancing what the 'engine'
is producing, you don't get paid for detracting. You want a
slice of the pie, you have to help provide value-added
ingredients to get the pie baked.
And THAT is why other sports, at least at the professional end,
are willing to constantly consider ways of reinventing and
repackaging themselves.
RT
