On Today’s Agenda:
Merchandiser Strikes Deal with NBA, MLB, and NFL Player Associations
Athletes with the Greatest Marketability in 2021
Ronaldo’s Coming Home
Fanatics Hits a Home-Run
Merchandiser Strikes with Deal NBA, MLB, and NFL Player Associations
Source: sportico.com
The world of trading cards has exploded over the past few years, with card values rising exponentially, and the total asset class for trading cards surpassing multi-billions. You may have come across videos and stories of long lines outside department stores to buy packs of hockey, football, or even Pokemon cards. The craze got so intense, Target had to temporarily suspend the sales of trading cards after a string of violent incidents in their stores. The allure of striking gold within a pack of trading cards has attracted investors, sports fans, and collectors alike - and created a new brand of trading card fans.
And where there are fans, there’s Fanatics. The sports retailer and merchandiser have made some big steps into the trading card industry, striking deals with the NBAPA, NFLPA; and most recently the MLBPA, to produce licensed trading cards with the name, image, and likeness of NBA, NFL, and MLB players. The current deals end in 2025 and 2026, after which the Fanatics deals will take over.
This is huge news for the trading card industry, and for the sports industry overall. The current producer of MLB trading cards, Topps, has been producing MLB cards since the 1950s, but with the Fanatics deal rumoured to be 10 times greater than the current deal with Topps - it shows the gravity of the investment that Fanatics had to make to encourage the MLB to move on from tradition.
Fanatics is clearly planning on making a huge splash with these deals (could the NHL be next?), and in order to continue growing the trading card business, it will take much more than just printing and distributed trading cards. Brands like Panini and Topps are synonymous with trading cards, and part of the trust consumers have in card value comes from the company that produces them. Fanatics has a big task on their hand to capture the momentum that its predecessors spearheaded.
However, there is reason to be excited about this new venture. As a global leader in sports merchandising, particularly on digital platforms, Fanatics is in a unique position to take trading cards to the next level. With the emergence of Sports NFTs as the next stage of sports hobbies/collections, Fanatics can leverage their digital platforms and build a stronger foundation for NFTs. By tying exclusive digital trading cards to merchandise, there’s an opportunity to help connect the traditional consumer to the tangible goods and experiences they crave within a digital product - helping to change behaviours and transition the trading card business over to the 21st century. With the rise of NBA TopShot, and exclusive athlete NFTs, Fanatics could be the face of the digital revolution of trading cards.
One final note - this could be very lucrative for athletes, who will be receiving a share of the revenue through these deals. Working with Fanatics to create their own signature trading card can create a new path for athletes to express themselves and engage with their fans. Fanatics has also shown an investment in athletes through education and externship programs, which will hopefully grow with their increased presence in athlete branding and merchandising.
Top 50 Most Marketable Athletes
SportsPro & Zoomph Outline Athletes with the Greatest Marketability in 2021
Source: fangirlish.com
When reading a list like Top 10 Richest People In America, Fastest Cars of The Year, or like now, the Top 50 Most Marketable Athletes in the World, right away names that you’re familiar with start coming to mind: Jeff Bezos? Bugatti? And possibly Ronaldo? But when you actually dive into the lists, there are always the expected names, like Jeff Bezos but then there are some surprises as we see in the Top 50 Most Marketable Athletes. Here’s the Top 10 with their respective points:
Simone Biles, American, 24, Female, Gymnastics - Influencer Score 183
Naomi Osaka, Japanese, 23, Female, Tennis - Influencer Score 179
Ashlyn Harris, American, 35, Female, Soccer - Influencer Score 178
Canelo Alvarez, Mexican, 31, Male, Boxing - Influencer Score 177
Paulo Dybala, Argentine, 27, Male, Soccer - Influencer Score 176
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese, 36, Male, Soccer - Influencer Score 174
Ali Krieger, American, 37, Female, Soccer - Influencer Score 174
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek, 23, Male, Tennis - Influencer Score 173
Novak Djokovic, Serbian, 34, Male, Tennis - Influencer Score 172
Alex Morgan, American, 32, Female, Soccer - Influence Score 171
At first glance, you have some immediate questions: where are Messi (12) and Lebron (24)? then you start to look through some names you go yup, makes sense and then others, you’re curious who they are but this isn’t the list of the most known or followed athlete, it’s the most marketable. Firstly, marketability is based not just on how many followers and/or likes an athlete may have, but the demographic makeup and consumer affinities of their audience as well, says Zoomph. This is a very important statement as it begins to answer these initial questions. Sure, Ronaldo may have a mass following, however, it is not as niche as some of these other athletes, which works in their favour. For example, let’s take a brand deal Ronaldo has done in the past, Herbalife, did his mass following become aware of this brand by viewing it in his post? Yes. But, is Herbalife really targeting every individual that follows Ronaldo? Probably not. Ronaldo is a global figure and with that, his audience ranges from teens who are fans of his style to raging grandma soccer fans. Whereas, athletes in the upper echelon of this list, like Simone or Canelo, have a large following but a reduced amount of audience segments.
Let’s look at Simone Biles for a second. Off the top of our head, we’ve seen her in commercials with Visa, Tide, Uber, etc. These are all brands that are targeting the everyday North American, which makes perfect sense. If you were to set up a focus group of everyday North American people, she would receive a high recognition score. However, if you were to perform the same focus group test in, we don’t know, Portugal; Simone’s score would be drastically lower. The same goes for Canelo when doing focus groups in Latin America and then Portugal. This allows brands to have a strong understanding of the consumer affinities of their audiences, as Zoomph states, which is extremely valuable to these brands.
This is why there is high interest in white whale mktg athletes, brands know the audience they are selling to. They aren’t getting an Abuela in Columbia, a teen in Toronto, and then a bloke in England, they specifically get 20-30-year-olds, from Vancouver interested in an active lifestyle. Selling a product or a service is much easier when a brand knows who they are selling to. This is what makes this list, completed by Zoomph and SportsPro, so great. It makes readers question the rankings in their head, especially with the recent news of Messi and Ronaldo, but it all comes together when you dive deep enough. We’ll stay up to date with these lists going forward, as we’re curious to see when an esports athlete will jump the ranks and make an impact.
Which athletes ranking most & least surprised you?
Ronaldo’s Coming Home
The Perfect Scenario for Manchester United
Source: the wwm pod
This transfer market has been literally been ridiculous. I mean, Messi going to PSG, Sergio Ramos, Donnarumma, Grealish, Lukaku, and so many more of the biggest names in the game have made transfers to other clubs, some even becoming record-breaking fees. But right now, all we care about is the disputed GOAT Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo resigned to his former team Manchester United, the team that signed him back in 2003, nearly two decades ago.
But at wwm, we like to focus on what happens behind the scenes as well as what goes on on the pitch. Manchester United has invested ₤60 million or around $100 million into bringing Ronnie back home, but that fee will appear very little in the two years to come.
The presence of Ronaldo will not only increase the opportunity for club sponsors as he is one of the most sought-after athletes in the world, but his shirt sales alone will pay for his time back in England.
Man U normally sells 3-4 million shirts per year at around $120 CAD which generates anywhere from $360 million to $480 million. Now, the club only takes 7.5% from the Adidas kit sales but that is still approximately $27 million to $36 million in kit sales.
That’s for the average Manchester United kit sale. But this is CRISTIANO RONALDO. 5 time Ballon d'Or winner, champions league winner, EUROs winner, a disputed top 2 player of all time. His sales will reportedly triple the sales, meaning anywhere from $81 million to $108 million in kit sales. That’s pretty much covering their investment.
Now on social media, is a different story. We notice these types of things, and wow they are killing it on Instagram right now. Before their announcement, @manchesterunited on Instagram was sitting comfortably at 42.9 million followers… now, it’s at 46.7 million. The Ronaldo impact; plain and simple. To be fair there have been 32 Ronaldo-related posts since the first announcement last week.
Manchester United directors, owners, fans, players, and football fans, in general, are very excited to see the main man return to Old Trafford, but his impact off the pitch is just as intriguing. 2 years from now we may see one of the GOATs gone again, it just asks the question of will he generate success on and off the pitch. I’ll guess we’ll find out.
SIUUUUUUU