And how could there be? ““He’s the most amazing endorser ever,’’ says Rick Burton, director of the sports-marketing center at the University of Oregon. ““He’s handsome, articulate, classy. He had a purity to his performance on court and off. It’s hard to find the perfect celebrity these days.’’ In addition to moving sneakers and basketballs, Jordan made millions for nonsports businesses like MCI/Worldcom and McDonald’s. That success changed the way companies look at athletes: George Foreman sells mufflers. Martina Hingis pushes shampoo. African-Americans benefited too. ““He helped advertisers become colorblind,’’ says Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports Celebrity Service. ““Go down the list of the top 10 endorsers: Tiger Woods, Grant Hill, Shaquille O’Neal. It’s dominated by black athletes.''
But they’re second-string pitchmen compared with Jordan. Tiger Woods, No. 2 in endorsements, earns only about half what Jordan does (and his golf clothes aren’t flying out of stores). Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson has a $5 million Reebok contract and the best-selling basketball shoes on the market, but sales have slowed. Since their home-run derby, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have signed only $2 million in endorsement deals–combined. In fact, sales of shirts, shoes and other products bearing athletes’ names fell 8 percent last year, though it’s still a $12.6 billion industry.
What gives? The NBA lockout hasn’t helped. In July, Reebok pared its NBA endorsement roster from 70 players to about a dozen (O’Neal was among those dropped). But Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith was axed, too. At Nike, where net income was down 49.8 percent in 1998, chairman Phil Knight blames ““sports negativism,’’ such as Latrell Sprewell’s coach-choking incident, for hurting business. (Bad boys are every marketer’s nightmare.) Others say hip-hop stars like LL Cool J and Puffy Combs set styles now. ““The fashion wheel has turned,’’ says Brian Murphy, publisher of the Sports Marketing Letter. ““We’re in an era that’s coming to an end.’’ Just ask any Bulls fan.
