There was a time when an athlete’s marketability was quite a straight forward concept to understand.
If you were good at your sport, looked half decent and kept out of trouble you were a sponsor’s dream.
In today’s more complex, hyper digital world, understanding and measuring an athlete’s marketability is an entirely more intricate pursuit encompassing factors such as causes they align closely with, social media reach and engagement in addition to global recognition.
Naming and listing the world’s most marketable athletes is an annual pursuit taken on by SportsPro, who recently released their 50MM list.
The sports media and events specialists ranked US gymnastics star, Simone Biles at the top, in a year which saw her add another four medals to her Olympics tally.
I joined Michael Long, SportsPro’s editorial director and Subomi Odanye, CEO of Divrse Media and the man behind the excellent Bigger Than Sports newsletter to dissect the list and explore some of its common themes.
Long says: “Biles is the GOAT at her sport, a generational talent. She's got multiple moves named after so many world titles to her name and so many Olympic medals.”
“She's really become this kind of transcendental bucket list sports star in the same way, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Serena Williams have done in their careers.”
Long adds: “She’s purpose driven and very relatable particularly to younger fans. She’s spoken a lot about mental health and her own struggles in this area - these are all really positive and additive to our understanding of an athlete’s marketability today.”
The highest placed footballer on the list is Real Madrid’s Brazilian attacker, Vinicius Junior - a new entry - a goalscoring star with a habit for saving his best performances for the biggest occasions.
Perhaps more significantly in terms of his legacy, Vinicius has been unafraid to speak out against racist abuse from opposition fans.
Odanye says: “Vini has been able to own his narrative, stand up for what's right and understand the responsibility that comes with it.
“He doesn’t accept [racism] without standing up or fighting against it and also rallying people behind him as well because you can see that his teammates are behind him.
“The ‘shut up and dribble narrative is so real. A lot of athletes are afraid of the backlash, are afraid of being singled out, are afraid of the comments that will come at you for taking a stand… but he's really pushing that conversation and making sure that something is being done about it. He’s a true cultural icon now.”
In a wide-ranging conversation, exploring the list we also looked at the challenges faced by the NFL (just Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes in the top 50) and cricket (just Virat Kohli and Smriti Mandhana in the top 50) in creating more globally-marketable athletes.
Kansas City Chiefs star Kelce, who has rocketed to 12th on the list has not just seen his marketability benefit from his relationship with pop star Taylor Swift, but also has a successful and lucrative podcast which he co-hosts with his brother Jason.
We looked at the rise of influence of women’s sports and why female athletes can punch above the weight of their sport when it comes to global traction, and we pondered whether Formula One will continue to have the same cultural impact it does today after Lewis Hamilton eventually retires.
Check out the full conversation and let me know you think in the comments below.
Podcast highlights and more to come…
A big thanks to Footballco for adding The Sports Marketeer to their list of best industry podcasts.
I was also fortunate to be invited on a couple of other podcasts over the last few weeks.
This conversation on the Business of Sport podcast, covered my career journey, while it was also a pleasure to join Dan McClaren on his excellent Running on Coffee podcast to explore creativity in sports marketing.
I have been planning the next batch of episodes and have some exciting guests lined up so please hit subscribe here and wherever you get your podcasts.
And finally…
The Sports Marketeer newsletter now has 915 subscribers located in 85 countries. This includes professionals working at Premier League, Bundesliga and LaLiga football clubs, governing bodies, marketing agencies, global brands and leading media organisations.
Please hit subscribe and share with friends and colleagues if you are interested in learning more about sports marketing, content and culture.
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