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Woods tops Bloomberg's power list
Jan 27, 2010
Woods Tops Power List in Bloomberg BusinessWeek Sports Rankings
By Adam Fusfeld
(Bloomberg) -- In today’s sports world, power is about more than speed and strength. It’s also about how to sell, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports on its Web site.
What is power? In athletics, it is usually thought of as bulging muscles and dominating performance. But in sports today, power has a different meaning as well: the earning potential of athletes, owners, agents, communities and brands, ranging from breakfast cereal to beer.
Because so much money is at stake, the question for general managers and brand managers alike is, “Which athlete?”
There are dozens of potential candidates every year, some up-and-coming rookies, some fan favorites, and others bona fide superstars. Which player will guarantee the best chance for winning? Will they behave themselves off the field? Can I trust them to give 100 percent? The ability to choose the right athlete is the difference between millions of dollars and a metaphorical cleat in the face.
To determine who the 100 most powerful athletes are on and off the field, Bloomberg BusinessWeek teamed with CSE, formerly known as Career Sports & Entertainment, an integrated sports and entertainment company that connects brands with fans, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek columnist Rick Horrow of Horrow Sports Ventures and host of “The $ports Take with Sports Professor Rick Horrow,” to create the 2010 version of the Power 100.
Unlike previous Power 100s, this year’s would focus only on athletes -- not owners, agents, commissioners or coaches. On- field metrics included athletes who scored the best on the field (or the rink, greens or court) over a two-year period. The more popular the sport, the more weight those achievements garnered.
Preeminence of Tiger
The off-field metric was broken into five components: In addition to total endorsement income, CSE used public opinion polls to analyze and evaluate the athlete’s awareness, trustworthiness, appeal and influence to calculate power off the playing field. We then worked with CSE to weigh and measure those factors, and combined them to come up with a total Power Score.
The winner, the world’s most powerful athlete, is, unsurprisingly if a little controversially, Tiger Woods. That’s because, at least as of Thanksgiving 2009, the man dominated his sport, and by extension the endorsement business, like few others in history. The 34-year-old golfer smashed records on the course and inked deals with companies ranging from Accenture and American Express to Nike and Gillette that totaled $92 million in 2009. Indeed, before his fall, Woods was expected to be the first athlete to make more than $1 billion in career earnings.
Pre-Leave Ranking
It’s unlikely that Woods’ Power 100 ranking would have been so high if his admission of infidelity had come earlier than the Dec. 11 statement in which he said he needed to be “a better husband, father and person.” Not only have some of his sponsors withdrawn their support, but he has also taken an indefinite leave from the sport. Already data since late November indicate his popularity and hard-won trustworthiness have suffered. What became a gossip journalist’s dream is a sports marketing nightmare.
There is no questioning Woods’ golfing ability, however, and the public persona he carefully cultivated created a strongly favorable impression among advertisers and audiences alike. Fortunately, plenty of other star athletes can help sop up the roughly $897 million the SportsBusiness Journal estimates is spent each year on sports endorsements.
Rounding out the top five after Woods are LeBron James, Phil Mickelson, Albert Pujols and Peyton Manning.
The easiest route to a high ranking is competing in individual sports. While the NBA and NFL occupy the lion’s share of the rankings -- with 22 and 21 players respectively -- seven of the 20 most powerful athletes, and 34 of the Power 100, such as Woods, swimmer Michael Phelps, cyclist Lance Armstrong and tennis player Rafael Nadal, avoided sharing glory or camera time with teammates.
Winning Record
Athletes will also find that it doesn’t necessarily take two years of dominant athletic performance to crack the top of the Power 100. Though it does take a lengthy, winning resume.
Longtime stars Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady and Derek Jeter were not top-35 performers in their own sports but fell within the range of the most powerful athletes. Meanwhile, up-and-coming NFL stars Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson, and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, need more time in the limelight before their on-field success can translate into revenue in the business world.
Athlete Pitchmen
Why are athletes so desirable as pitchmen? The research out there states that a commercial or an endorsement with a celebrity is more easily recalled by a consumer than a commercial or material that does not feature a celebrity, says Matt Delzell, senior director at Davie Brown Entertainment, a Los Angeles company specializing in brand strategy that founded the Davie-Brown Index, which advertisers and marketers use to gauge a celebrity’s ability to win over customers.
And athletes are the ideal celebrity. Phil de Picciotto, president of athletes and personalities at the sports marketing firm Octagon in McLean, Virginia, points out that many musicians or actors often command the spotlight only when they release albums or premiere movies. On the other hand, athletes have long seasons that catapult them into the public consciousness for substantial portions of the year, year after year.
Additionally, many of them appeal to consumers regardless of region, sex, age or income level.
Of course, there’s more behind choosing an appropriate athlete than his or her approval ratings. The endorser’s public persona must match the company’s desired image, and the consumer must perceive that the athlete uses the product he or she is pitching. For consumers, perception is reality, Delzell says. That’s why all-American quarterback Brett Favre endorses Wrangler jeans, while soccer star and fashion plate David Beckham endorses Armani.
Influence, Power
We thought the industry should have the benefit of the most practical methodology applied in the most realistic circumstances, says Horrow. As there have been numerous attempts to “quantify” athlete influence and power, the analytics developed by CSE have produced a practical, proven methodology applied initially to on-field performers.
This is a significant analytic breakthrough that could be applied to all aspects of the industry as they measure ‘power’ in the coming years: Executives, owners, college officials, international performers, athletes/entertainers and others can be analyzed over time. It is a very quantitative way to measure “power” and influence.
Some people may deplore the increasing commercialism of sports and they may have a point.
From ubiquitous corporate logos to stadium naming rights, business and sports have become inextricably linked. But there’s an upside to that, too; because without all those corporate and advertising dollars, the sporting world would not be the revenue and employment behemoth it has become, with an estimated value of $213 billion, twice the size of the U.S. auto industry and seven times the size of the movie industry, according to Sports Business Simulations in Oakland, California.
It is the star athletes who put a human face on this relationship and get us not only out on the golf course or the basketball court, but also into the stores.
At least until they run into a fire hydrant.
POWER 100 LIST
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Athlete Sport
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1. Tiger Woods Golf
2. LeBron James Basketball
3. Phil Mickelson Golf
4. Albert Pujols Baseball
5. Peyton Manning Football
6. Dwyane Wade Basketball
7. Michael Phelps Swimming
8. Adrian Peterson Football
9. Shaquille O’Neal Basketball
10. Lance Armstrong Cycling
11. Rafael Nadal Tennis
12. Kobe Bryant Basketball
13. Larry Fitzgerald Football
14. Ryan Howard Baseball
15. Brett Favre Football
16. Serena Williams Tennis
17. Roger Federer Tennis
18. Eli Manning Football
19. Joe Mauer Baseball
20. Tim Duncan Basketball
21. Jimmie Johnson Auto Racing
22. Kevin Garnett Basketball
23. Chris Johnson Football
24. Randy Moss Football
25. Drew Brees Football
26. Kurt Warner Football
27. Usain Bolt Track & Field
28. Jeff Gordon Auto Racing
29. Dirk Nowitzki Basketball
30. Tom Brady Football
31. Kevin Durant Basketball
32. CC Sabathia Baseball
33. Derek Jeter Baseball
34. Prince Fielder Baseball
35. David Beckham Soccer
36. Dwight Howard Basketball
37. Alex Ovechkin Hockey
38. Andre Johnson Football
39. Sidney Crosby Hockey
40. Hines Ward Football
41. Mark Martin Auto Racing
42. Venus Williams Tennis
43. Donovan McNabb Football
44. Chris Paul Basketball
45. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Auto Racing
46. Mark Teixeira Baseball
47. LaDainian Tomlinson Football
48. Tony Stewart Auto Racing
49. Chase Utley Baseball
50. Jim Furyk Golf
51. Shaun White Snowboarding
52. David Wright Baseball
53. Ilya Kovalchuk Hockey
54. Ben Roethlisberger Football
55. Steve Nash Basketball
56. Lorena Ochoa Golf
57. Evan Longoria Baseball
58. Deron Williams Basketball
59. Paul Pierce Basketball
60. Carmelo Anthony Basketball
61. Alex Rodriguez Baseball
62. Johan Santana Baseball
63. Tim Lincecum Baseball
64. Apolo Anton Ohno Speedskating
65. Stewart Cink Golf
66. Ray Allen Basketball
67. Carl Edwards Auto Racing
68. Yao Ming Basketball
69. Troy Polamalu Football
70. Kyle Busch Auto Racing
71. Landon Donovan Soccer
72. Manny Pacquiao Boxing
73. Padraig Harrington Golfer
74. Vince Carter Basketball
75. Tony Romo Football
76. Dustin Pedroia Baseball
77. Ichiro Suzuki Baseball
78. Ray Lewis Football
79. Andy Roddick Tennis
80. Maria Sharapova Tennis
81. Sergio Garcia Golf
82. Fedor Emelianenko Mixed Martial Arts
83. Derrick Rose Basketball
84. Vijay Singh Golf
85. Steven Jackson Football
86. Andy Murray Tennis
87. Allen Iverson Basketball
88. Danica Patrick Auto Racing
89. Brandon Roy Basketball
90. Manny Ramirez Baseball
91. Floyd Mayweather Boxing
92. Candace Parker Basketball
93. Shane Mosley Boxing
94. Diana Taurasi Basketball
95. Misty May-Treanor Volleyball
96. Brock Lesnar Mixed Martial Arts
97. Patrick Kane Hockey
98. Chad Ochocinco Football
99. Matt Ryan Football
100. Ryan Sheckler Skateboarding
