During the NBA playoffs and Finals, the question of why
Hakeem Olajuwon had not attained the market status of a Shaquille
O'Neal or Michael Jordan was a frequent topic for the basketball
media. But following the Rocket's two-peat and his second
consecutive playoff MVP nod, Olajuwon has been getting attention
in some new circles, including appearances this week with David
Letterman and Charlie Rose, and an interview this morning on
"Bloomberg Business News." Frank Vuono, President and CEO of
Integrated Sports Int'l, was brought on in October '94 to assist
with the marketing arm of Olajuwon's Barakaat Holding company.
Vuono spoke with THE SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY this week about their
plans. WHO'S THE BOSS? Vuono and colleague Ralph Greene had
taken over for Leonard Armato, who also represents Shaquille
O'Neal. Armato was Hakeem's agent over the course of his NBA
career and had negotiated his last contract, but was told in
October that Hakeem was going to start up his own representation.
That has led to confusion over Olajuwon's actual representation.
Vuono, who worked with Armato in the past, said that when there
was criticisms that Hakeem didn't have any endorsement deals,
that Armato "failed to do what I thought was the right thing, to
tell people he was no longer Hakeem's agent, I thought we needed
to be more overt about our association and relationship, so we
went and cleared the air. We wanted to set everybody straight."
SHOES MAKE THE MAN: One of Vuono's first deals was to
finalize the Spalding shoe contract for Hakeem. Although
Spalding doesn't have the budget to support the media blitz
available for a Nike or Reebok client, Vuono doesn't see
that as a disadvantage. Vuono: "We went after that
agreement specifically to bring Hakeem to the masses in a
different way. ... With Spalding, we will be out there on
literally hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes that are
affordable ... We feel that over time Spalding will be, if
not as valuable, more valuable to Hakeem in terms of
exposure in the long term." Vuono said the Spalding shoes
will be in Kmart and Wal-Mart Sunday paper circulars (with
Olajuwon on the cover) that reach 60 million households.
DOES HE WANT TO BE LIKE MIKE? Some have questioned
whether Olajuwon wants to haver the same high-profile
endorsement profile as a Jordan or Shaq. Vuono says for
Hakeem it comes down to "respect" and that his career has
been backed by consistent performance. Vuono also believes
Olajuwon's strength could be more global (THE DAILY).
