[NHL] Crosby signs deal with Gatorade

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Jul. 5, 2005. 07:00 PM

Crosby signs deal with Gatorade

CANADIAN PRESS

Gatorade became the second major company this year to hitch its wagon to Sidney Crosby's rising star by signing the 17-year-old hockey player to a three-year endorsement deal.

Crosby signed with Reebok in March in what was reported to be a five-year, $2.5-million US endorsement deal for equipment and apparel.

While the Gatorade deal is not believed to be as lucrative per year as the Reebok contract, it is still reportedly the richest deal a hockey player has signed with the sports drink company.

Crosby joins Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore, former NHL star goalie Patrick Roy, NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, baseball's Derek Jeter and international soccer star Ronaldinho as athletes who have endorsed Gatorade.

Crosby, a Canadian Hockey League MVP the past two seasons while playing for the Rimouski Oceanic, has not played in an NHL game, yet is already signing NHL-calibre endorsement deals.

He is considered far and away the No. 1 prospect for the 2005 NHL draft. The draft will be held soon after the end of the NHL lockout, which is expected in the next couple of weeks.

What Crosby is projected to be able to do as a pro, combined with media skills beyond his years, has made him an attractive pitchman for companies.

"He reminds me a bit of a young Wayne Gretzky in that he has all those nice Canadian qualities, the gosh-by-golly, the modesty," said Bob Stelllick, who runs a sports marketing company in Toronto.

"He's quite media savvy. He's really ridden the crest of the media's desire for the guy who is the big story."

The announcement of Crosby's deal with Gatorade on Tuesday was much more low-key than the splashy Reebok event at the Air Canada Centre in March, when Crosby was flown on the Reebok company plane from Quebec to Toronto for a major news conference.

Gatorade issued a news release and Crosby made an appearance Tuesday afternoon at a Sobeys grocery story in his Cole Harbour neighbourhood in Halifax.

Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson of IMG, would not discuss financial terms of the Gatorade deal.

He said the contract was actually signed a couple of months ago, but Gatorade wanted to prepare a promotional campaign involving Crosby and the new X-Factor drink before making the announcement.

"We've been talking with many brands in different categories," Brisson said. "But also, Sidney doesn't want to be a walking billboard.

"He's not just going to put his name to a brand for the heck of it or the money."

While Crosby, his parents Trina and Troy, and Brisson have been discussing options of where Crosby would play in the event the NHL lockout doesn't end, Brisson says the focus is still on the NHL.

"There was a lot of interest for Sidney, but a lot of it I kind of pushed aside and kind of kept a couple options that are very interesting at this point in the event the NHL doesn't go," Brisson said. "His main focus is to be in the NHL. He wants to play in the NHL."

Stellick said Crosby's desire to be bilingual has made him even more marketable.

"I think Eric Lindros really missed the boat on that," Stellick said. "Eric Lindros, a bilingual, good-looking Canadian refused to go to Quebec and that hurt him massively in his Canadian endorsement opporunities.

"Sidney is a guy who has played in Quebec. He's almost a bilingualphone almost. That gives someone like a Gatorade access to another 30 per cent of the population."

Crosby has played major junior hockey for only two years, but during that time has become marketable because of both his prodigious talent and beyond-his-years maturity in front of the television cameras.

He has rarely been out of the spotlight during those two years, starting with Don Cherry calling him a hot dog only a few months into his rookie season.

Speculation over where Crosby might play next season if the NHL lockout does not end, the theft and subsequent recovery of his national team jersey after helping Canada win its first world junior hockey title in a decade and his controversial decision to pull out of this year's Top Prospect Game ? of which Cherry is a celebrity coach ? along with his on-ice exploits have helped make him a household name in Canada.

But for Gatorade and ReebCrosby's value is in his potential, said Ashwin Joshi, a marketing professor at York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto.

"Think of stockpicking. The idea is you buy low and sell high," explained Joshi. "Not so much Gatorade and Reebok, but lesser brands have been going after junior players for a number of years. The idea is that you catch them young.

"They're cheaper to buy at this point in time when they have tremendous upside potential to them."

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...id=968867503640

[Ayepecks]

IMO, he should've waited a year if he thinks he can produce as much as everyone else thinks he can... he could've gotten at least $1 mil/year, even for a hockey player.

I can see why he wanted to make the choice now, though.

On the NHL topic: I'm ****ed Reebok is going to make the new "jerseys" for NHL... they're supposed to be tight-fitting and nothing like the "sweaters" we currently have.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

IMO, he should've waited a year if he thinks he can produce as much as everyone else thinks he can... he could've gotten at least $1 mil/year, even for a hockey player.

I can see why he wanted to make the choice now, though.

On the NHL topic: I'm ****ed Reebok is going to make the new "jerseys" for NHL... they're supposed to be tight-fitting and nothing like the "sweaters" we currently have.

586168861[/snapback]

He can always get a new deal when he is 20. He won't exactly be washed up yet by then. :D

At least this (along with the Reebok deal) puts some cash in his pocket for the meanwhile. What if he ends up being another Alexander Daigle?

If you just said "Who?" then that's my point.

[NEVER85]

I'm more interested in knowing where Crosby will eventually end up. Being the dyed-in-the-wool Montreal Canadiens fan he is, I doubt he'd wanna wear the blue and white of the Maple Leafs, and if he plans to win a Stanley Cup, I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to be in Toronto. ;)

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I'm more interested in knowing where Crosby will eventually end up. Being the dyed-in-the-wool Montreal Canadiens fan he is, I doubt he'd wanna wear the blue and white of the Maple Leafs, and if he plans to win a Stanley Cup, I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to be in Toronto.  ;)

586168887[/snapback]

Everyone wants to play in the centre of the universe.

[bayrider]

if he plans to win a Stanley Cup, I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to be in Toronto.  ;)

586168887[/snapback]

damn right!

[ChadyzGroove]

On the NHL topic: I'm ****ed Reebok is going to make the new "jerseys" for NHL... they're supposed to be tight-fitting and nothing like the "sweaters" we currently have.

586168861[/snapback]

i thought the tight fitting jerseys were for goalies only

[Ayepecks]

i thought the tight fitting jerseys were for goalies only

586169651[/snapback]

Not from what I've heard... they want to completely change all the jerseys. I think it's stupid, personally, changing one of the main aspects of the game. It'd be like changing the Yankees from vertical pinstripes to horizontal ones -- you just don't do it.

[bayrider]

jerseys used to be tight anyways... but i dont think they're restricting the size on players' jerseys, being that they don't like them too loose anyways (well thats from my personal experience), but not too tight other. Im sure it's just the goalies who wear oversized jerseys to gain a slight edge that are being reduced in size

[Ayepecks]

jerseys used to be tight anyways... but i dont think they're restricting the size on players' jerseys, being that they don't like them too loose anyways (well thats from my personal experience), but not too tight other. Im sure it's just the goalies who wear oversized jerseys to gain a slight edge that are being reduced in size

586171820[/snapback]

No, they really weren't... there was just a lot less padding back then. They've pretty much always been roughly the same size.

And, not to sound rude, but you're not understanding what I say when I mean "tight"... I just can't think of a way to explain it better. They're no longer going to be "sweaters" if Reebok gets their way, though, I guess that's the only way I can explain it.

[bayrider]

well im sure the jersey situation will be adressed soon. I did a search for the new reebok jerseys on google and i couldnt find anything of importance but im sure something will materialize soon now that the players have reached an agreement.

on another not, not only did Crosby sign with Reebok and Gatorate, he's also been receiving offers to play in many European leagues. One swiss team is offering him 3yrs/$12m which is a lot more than he could make if he played in the NHL as a rookie earning a base sallary capped at $850,000.

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

good for him

let's hope he wont do the same as Daigle