For winning athletes, future can be golden

Martin Wolk Chief economics correspondent • Profile • E-mail

High-profile athletes like Bode Miller and Michelle Kwan have a lot riding on the upcoming Olympic games, but perhaps not as much as the many lesser-knowns hoping to soar to fame and fortune by winning a gold in Turin.

The odds are against them.

Even in Salt Lake City, where the U.S. team medaled in a winter-record 34 events, only 11 individuals won gold medals. Prior to that the best U.S. winter performance was 13 individual and team medals. Even if the Americans enjoy another record Games, that still means that most of the 211 men and women who made the U.S. team this year will not end up on the podium.

For those who do, a medal can mean anything from a modest income boost to a lifetime of financial security.

Athletes in top-tier sports like figure skating and alpine skiing are among the fortunate few for whom a gold medal can mean millions of dollars in endorsement deals, sponsorships and speaking engagements, marketing experts say.

Those who compete in unfamiliar sports like skeleton or bobsled still can turn a gold medal into a six-figure income for a few years or longer, but there are no guarantees — other than a $25,000 check from the U.S. Olympic Committee. (A silver medal is worth $15,000; a bronze, $10,000.)

“Winning a gold medal certainly doesn’t assure you of notoriety for years and years,” said Matt Lalin, executive vice president of Steiner Sports Marketing in New Rochelle, N.Y. “You have to continue to produce, and if you’re not in a sport that is highly visible, you better have a pretty good story.”

Miller and Kwan already have multiyear endorsement deals worth millions of dollars annually but stand to make more if they can win gold medals to seal two of the more compelling early stories of the games. Many big marketing companies offer cash bonuses for endorsing athletes who win gold medals because of the additional exposure they get.

Although Miller claims he is “very reluctant to be any more famous than I already am,” he will have his pick of new lucrative deals if he wins gold, and sales of his well-timed autobiography will enjoy a boost.

As for Kwan, the gold medal is “the one missing ingredient in her unparalleled success as a figure skating athlete,” said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “It’s not that she is going to make a ton more money, but it will certainly help extend her marketing life as an endorsable athlete.”

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