The San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker and jockey Gary Stevens have seen an uptick in endorsement deals in the past two months, but not just because they were named to People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" list 10 weeks ago.
Stevens has arguably had a bigger boost from significant press around his starring role in the upcoming film "Seabiscuit," while Parker has benefited from good timing: People's list came out just before he took on Jason Kidd in the Spurs' NBA championship effort.
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| Stevens |
Stevens is in the process of completing a deal with
Wrangler, whose logo he wore during the Belmont Stakes last month, but the deal was in the works before People dubbed him as easy on the eyes, said his publicist,
Cindy Guagenti of talent agency
BWR.
Guagenti played down the People appearance, noting that Stevens had considerable advance publicity for his role in the much-anticipated "Seabiscuit," which hits theaters July 25. Also, he was profiled in Entertainment Weekly's "It" list a few weeks ago and is seen in the current Vanity Fair. Appearances on "Entertainment Tonight" and "Extra" were planned for last week as part of a three-day press tour touting the movie.
Guagenti said Stevens had recently signed with International Creative Management agency for theatrical and endorsement representation. "The industry has really taken notice," she said.
Same for Parker, a Frenchman, who closed a deal with Electronic Arts recently to represent an EA Sports video game in France. Agent Marc Fleisher said the deal had been broached before the People list came out in early May.
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| Parker |
Fleisher said
Nike has approached him about an extension to Parker's shoe deal, and Parker is "just in the middle of discussions with a major cellular company, based in the U.S. but with possibility for [promotion in France] as well." Parker currently has a deal with
Bolle Sunglasses as well.
"It's a little difficult to discern what's been more significant. The '50' was a nice feather in his cap and something they talked about during the playoff run, for extra mileage," Fleisher said. "But the fact that he was playing against Jason Kidd [in the NBA Finals] in a giant media market helped, as did the long break prior to the Finals, when the media was running out of things to write."
LEARNING TO RUN A TEAM: Sports Business Simulations has developed a computer simulation game for people with a yen to run a major league baseball team. 
Its "Oakland Baseball Simworld" is now being used by the University of San Francisco and Washington State University as teaching tools in sports management classes, and the company has launched sportsbusinesssims.com, where fantasy sports fans and fans of "sim" games can learn more.
Daniel Rascher, director of the sport management program at the University of San Francisco, is co-founder of SBS, and Washington State University's management program is a strategic partner in the venture.
To join the series for three months costs $27. "There are 7.7 million business administration students nationwide, 3 million economics students and 300,000 sports management students. It's conceivable there could be $2 million in revenues for Washington State over the first five years," said Zenophon Abraham, co-founder and CEO of SBS.
Noah Liberman can be reached at nliberman@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
