If Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb wins the Super Bowl or gives a gritty performance in a tough loss, it could catapult him past just doing corporate endorsements and into the boardroom, says one of his marketing agents.
McNabb’s endorsement list already includes Campbell’s Soup, Visa, Lincoln Financial, Pepsi, DirecTV and Reebok, and he just shot an advertisement for the “Got Milk?” campaign last week, said Nova Lanktree, executive vice president of player marketing for CSMG, the Chicago-based sports agency.
“Donovan has a tremendous foundation in the marketplace to build on,” Lanktree said. “Going to the Super Bowl is catalytic to what is already existing.”
Lanktree said McNabb still has plenty of categories open for endorsements, but CSMG is looking now toward the day that his playing career is over. In that light, Lanktree is looking for companies that want partnerships that go beyond advertising.
CSMG is hoping a good Super Bowl performance will help McNabb cross the corporate lines in the same way that Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana and other sports superstars have. That would mean a personal services contract on top of an endorsement contract so that McNabb would go to major company golf outings and shareholders meetings, Lanktree said.
“He is not controversial, but not at the cost of being uninteresting,” said Lanktree, who worked placing celebrity sports talent with advertisers before joining CSMG in 2001. “There is no thug there, but he’s not a moralist Goody Two-shoes. I think most people feel they can reach him, and that is very desirable to corporations.”
Fletcher Smith is the CSMG NFL player agent who represents McNabb for on-field deals.
DESPERATELY SEEKING CED: A lot of NFL player agents have been talking in recent weeks about the fact that no one seems to know whether Texas running back Cedric Benson, who is projected to be a top-five NFL draft pick, had selected an agent.
Brian Peters, who represented Benson during his baseball career, said last week that Benson had not chosen an agent for the NFL draft. Benson was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001, and the club was paying for his education, according to a published report, but Benson later decided to concentrate on football and went on a football scholarship at Texas.
Peters acknowledged that he represented Benson in a deal in which he appeared at the Tristar Productions Inc. memorabilia show in Houston in January. But Peters is not a certified NFL Players Association agent and cannot represent Benson in negotiations with NFL teams.
IMG SIGNS NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS: Sports agency IMG has signed a number of projected first-round draft picks for representation in this year’s NFL draft, including Utah quarterback Alex Smith, who last week was ranked No. 1 by ESPN draft prognosticator Mel Kiper Jr.
The Kansas City-based IMG Football office also signed Heath Miller, tight end from Virginia who is ranked No. 10 by Kiper and No. 12 by nfldraftblitz.com. Additionally, IMG signed David Pollack, a Georgia defensive end who is ranked No. 10 by nfldraftblitz.com and No. 19 by Kiper, and Taj Hawthorne, a Wisconsin defensive tackle who is ranked No. 17 by nfldraftblitz.com and not listed in Kiper’s ranking of the top 32 picks.
IMG Football agents Tom Condon and Kendall Kremer represent the players.
OCTAGON ADDS FOUR …: Octagon has signed four football players for representation in this year’s NFL draft.
The tight end from Stanford, Alex Smith, who is ranked No. 32 by Kiper and No. 56 by nfldraftblitz.com, has signed with Octagon agent Doug Hendrickson. Hendrickson also signed Marlin Jackson, a cornerback from Michigan, who is ranked No. 32 by nfldraftblitz.com.
Octagon agent Jeff Sperbeck signed Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter, who is ranked No. 49 by nfldraftblitz.com. Octagon agent Ken Landphere signed Syracuse offensive tackle Adam Terry, who is ranked No. 52 by nfldraftblitz.com.
… AND FEMALE CHL PLAYER: Octagon has signed Angela Ruggiero, a hockey player who was on the U.S. women’s team that won gold and silver in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, respectively, for representation.
Ruggiero was scheduled to play a game last week for the Tulsa (Okla.) Oilers of the Central Hockey League, which would make her the only female player to play in a men’s professional game who was not a goalie.
Dan Levy, Ruggiero’s agent and director of women’s sports in Octagon’s Olympics division, said she was planning to make more than just a brief appearance for the Oilers. “She will take three or four shifts in the first period,” he said.
Ruggiero has signed a deal with Nike for skates, sticks and gloves, and Levy is working on a book deal for her, as well as a documentary. Ruggiero, who recently graduated cum laude from Harvard, also is looking for speaking engagements, Levy said.
TENNIS TEEN TO SFX SPORTS: SFX Sports has signed 18-year-old tennis player Scott Oudsema, the world’s 10th-ranked junior player, for representation. SFX Tennis agent Colin Smeeton will serve as Oudsema’s primary agent.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
