Endorsements Helping or Hurting an Athlete

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Using information from Business News Daily, an article “ Why Winning Olympians Won't All Achieve Endorsement Gold”, I argue that Athletes endorsement deal will significantly help them gain income, but can be lost at any second.

Many athletes try to get a good salary within just their sport, but many do not think of what other factors they will receive just by playing, or being with a certain club. In sports, often times athletes will get benefits, and outside benefits, or endorsements. The endorsements are a way for a company to stick a face to their product, or whatever they advertise, and try to raise the demand. This is done by inquiring an athlete, or well known celebrity. In my research I found that an athlete's endorsements will truly help their income, popularity, but can be lost at any second.

Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods, are just some names that often ring a bell in your head. This is because they are athletes that have very high endorsements, and have been for a long period of time. This is because in their prime, the company wanted to have their face be on the product. For example Michael Jordan, he was a well mannered and very good player in his time, but off the court he made sure to give back to the community, therefore they gave him a long life time lasting deal, because his mannerism off the court. The counter example of this is Michael Phelps, very good swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, but gets in trouble out of the waters. In the article, it even states that “ hiring an athlete also comes with risks for a company if he or she gets in trouble for bad behavior, such as getting a DUI, or, as in Phelps' case, getting caught with a giant bong in your hands.” this is why endorsement deals are tough but it's up to the athlete to maintain it.

Personally, I like endorsements, as a consumer it does change my opinion of an athlete and the product. For example, I followed Michael Phelps threw his entire Olympic run, but as soon as he got caught with drug use I immediately had a disliking for him. I think that he wasted his time, you work so hard just to end up high? To me this doesn't make sense and drives me absolutely insane. Athletes need to respect themselves and their bodies, because this is what society looks at. Society and endorsers first look at the player, than the man of the field, than what they do for others.

Future Research: How do Athletes and their Clubs differ around the world, with salary caps, endorsements, and economic status?