• by September 30, 2002

Million Dollar Bod And A Ten Dollar Game: Apparently you don’t even need to bring an A-game to be a sports marketing hero these days. Burns Sports & Celebrities annual sports marketing ranking (by dollars earned) makes it official. Anna Kournikova – who has never won a pro tennis event – is the highest paid female athlete in the world. She’s in the same breath as Tiger, MJ and Kobe (one, two and three), who are among the best ever to play their sports. In fact I love what author Scott Turow said about Jordan: “Michael Jordan plays basketball better than anybody’s ever done anything.” Sports marketing, to me anyway, used to be about that kind of transcendence. If you had the ability to go far beyond your sport in terms of athletic ability and off-the-field charisma, you had a shot at the big bucks. Not only that, marketers found your image and aura very effective in selling products. I don’t think sports marketing should lose the two parts of this equation. It’s gotta be on and off the field that makes you attractive to consumers and marketers. And if I were a media planner, I’d keep in mind that these qualities will win in the long term. Anna will continue to win, too. At least as long as her legs do.

The Future Writ Fast: The real deal, the goods, the thing itself in sports marketing for next year is Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. He puts a Jordan-esque distance between himself and competitors on the field. And a little more time working with the media is going to put him in next year’s top ten sports marketing giants.

The Ted Offensive: According to the LA Times, Ted Turner is “feeling burned” by mergers, and will oppose any combination of ABC/CNN. Another deal bites the dust, and with good reason from an AOL/TW perspective.