Start selling Kenyan athletes as top brand

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. PHOTO | AFP 

By CHARLES GACHERU

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Summary

• Jamaica’s Usain Bolt raked in US$34.2m (Sh3.42billion) in the last year and he is the only track and field athlete ranked by Forbes in the top-100.
• According to an article published by Claire Thomas in the Telegraph (UK), Bolt is worth over GBP45m (Sh6.525 billion) with only 38 per cent of these earnings coming from winning races.
• As the global ambassador for Puma, Bolt banks SH450 million per year.

Over the years, I have written extensively on athletes as brands and on the power of these brands to attract sponsorship and endorsement dollars. And whilst professional golf events around the world continue to pay out millions of dollars per week, the list of the richest athletes is dominated by footballers, basketball stars, the odd tennis player and yes indeed, the odd golfer.

According to Forbes, the 100 top-earning athletes banked more than US$3 billion over a 12-month period! That is Sh300 billion, about the cost of phase one of the standard gauge railway!

Forbes lists football mega-star Christiano Ronaldo as the world’s highest paid athlete of 2017 with a total income of US$93m (Sh9.3 billion) with about 38 per cent coming from sponsors and licensing.

Whilst all footballers in the top leagues make descent cash, thanks largely to revenue streams from TV rights, it is only those at the very top who manage to differentiate their brands that continue to bank disproportionately large sums of money.

Ronaldo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer and Kevin Durant take up the top five positions of the Forbes world highest paid athletes 2017 list.

Pro-golfer Rory McIlroy is the top ranked golfer in sixth place (US$50m) followed by Phil Michelson in 12th place (US$43.5m). Tiger Woods, now ranked 1,046 on the Official World Golf Ranking, is ranked 17th (US$37.1m). Since Woods has been inactive on the golf course, 100 per cent of his earnings can only be from sponsorships and endorsements.

Jordan Spieth who won The Open Championship a week ago is ranked 21st by Forbes with total earnings of US$34.5m. Not bad for a 24-year old athlete who joined the paid ranks hardly five years ago.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt raked in US$34.2m (Sh3.42billion) in the last year and he is the only track and field athlete ranked by Forbes in the top-100. According to an article published by Claire Thomas in the Telegraph (UK), Bolt is worth over GBP45m (Sh6.525 billion) with only 38 per cent of these earnings coming from winning races. As the global ambassador for Puma, Bolt banks SH450 million per year. He also has endorsement deals with Nissan, Visa, Gatorade, Virgin Media and Hublot.

Puma’s CEO Jochen Zeitz puts Bolt’s brand marketing value at over GBP277 million (Sh40 billion).

A few weeks ago, Kenya proudly hosted the IAAF World Under 18 Championships at the Moi Intertnational Sports Stadium, Kasarani. And although the young Kenyan team didn’t win, eventually finishing fourth, Kenya was loudly commended for putting on a great show. In the words of the IAAF President Seb Coe, “This was the best U18 Championships in the 10-year history of the competition.” Lord Coe went on to say that the Kenyan fans had added much colour and fanfare to the games.

This week, Kenya’s elite athletes jet off to London for the IAAF World Championships 2017, and by the way, Team Kenya are the defending champions, having won the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China. The games in London take placeAugust 4-13 , 2017. And whilst it is unfortunate that the world’s 800m champion, David Rudisha will not be at the games, on account of a muscle strain, Kenya sends a strong contingent to the London games nevertheless.

What value can we attach to our track and field athletes as brands? How can we better mold our stars, in golf and further afield to become sports brands?