The FIFA Ballon d'Or trophy -- the annual award for FIFA's top player -- is "turning up in transfer negotiations involving elite athletes as it becomes a marker of their commercial value," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. Madrid-based Laffer Abogados lawyer Rodrigo Garcia, who represents Spanish and South Americans in transfer deals, said that some contracts now contain clauses that "pay bonuses to players should they win the award or are among the 23 nominees." Teams have "bargained for compensation if an athlete they trade takes the prize at his new club." Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo won the '14 award on Monday. Garcia said, "The Ballon d'Or is becoming more important. It's a way to measure the publicity a player generates." He added that Real Madrid, which "typically gets half of a player's endorsement revenue, is among those to see the value of Ronaldo winning the award." Repucom Head of U.K. Consulting Spencer Nolan said that other top clubs including ManU are "also tracking the media profile of star players to evaluate the effect on team sales" (BLOOMBERG, 1/12).
