Ronaldinho is the most valuable footballer commercially ahead of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney. Eto’o and Messi follow in next. So there are 3 Barcelona players in the top 5. Also, the youngsters are the new Brand ambassadors. Only Beckham is over 30 in the list. This more than any thing symbolises the new generation of footballers. There is no Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo and the likes. Beckham is likely to slide off from the top 5 soon too if he doesn’t do some thing spectacular in the World Cup.

What is amazing is how much Michael Jordan still makes via commercials. His brand name has crossed the performance barrier. He has proven so much over his career that it doesn’t matter whether he plays now or not. The Jordan brand is strong and tough to erode.

Would the Tendulkar brand be the same once he retires? Has it eroded even a bit in the recent past where his performance has suffered? What will happen of the Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher brands once they retire? How much is the Pele brand and Muhammad Ali brand worth today?

One would imagine that erosion does take place in brand values but quality sportspersons manage to command a fair deal of money after their retirement. If there is some legend who symbolises the sport itself even years afyer his retirement, his brand value could be unaffected by recent performances and even increase once he retires.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 2:42 pm and is filed under General Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.