After theyear
Sidney Crosby has had, leading the NHL in scoring and finishing asthe most influential sports figure in a Time.com online vote, it’s notsurprising that major corporations are interested in securing a partnershipwith the 19-year-old Pittsburgh Penguin.
Pat Brisson, Crosby’s agent at CAA Sports, said thathe plans to sit down with Crosby and his father, Troy, this summer totalk about interest from potential sponsors, which include a car company and awatchmaker.
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Agent Pat Brisson says he’ll sit down with
Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Crosby’s dad,
Troy, to discuss interest from potential sponsors. |
Crosby is set to shootcommercials this summer for his hockey equipment and apparel sponsor Reebok andfor Canada-based coffee and fast-food chain Tim Hortons, Brisson said. Otherexisting sponsors include Gatorade and PepsiCo brands Pepsi and Frito Lay.
Crosby has turned downmany more deals than he has signed, though, mainly because his focus is onhockey, Brisson said. If he does take on new sponsors, time commitments, includingappearances and advertising shoots, will be a factor.
Brisson said he is gladCrosby did not sign a lot of long-term endorsement deals during his rookieseason of 2005-06. “We didn’t want to suffocate him with all these offers andsign him to long-term deals because we believed that he was going to progressrapidly and his value in the marketplace was going to change as well,” Brissonsaid.
Brisson acknowledged that CAA could very well go tosponsors with the Time.com survey on the 100 most influential people of theyear in which Crosby was voted fifth overall and tops among sports figures, asit demonstrates Crosby’s potential power in the marketplace. Crosby receivedmore than 85,000 online votes, outpolling Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
OCTAGON SIGNS SYKORA: Edmonton Oilers right wing and leading scorer PetrSykora, expected to be one of the hottest free agents in the NHL thissummer, has signed with Octagon after an extensive agent search.
Octagon hockey agents AllanWalsh and Mike Liut will co-represent Sykora. He was formerlyrepresented by veteran NHL player agent Ritch Winter, but parted wayswith Winter late last year and has conducted interviews with agents at severallarge firms in the last few months.
“For the last eightyears, he has scored 20 or more goals,” Walsh noted. “I don’t know any otherunrestricted free agents this year who have those kind of credentials.”
NFL ROOKIE POOL TO INCREASE BY 2.56 PERCENT: The NFL rookie pool is $136.8 million this year,an increase of 2.56 percent over last year. The rookie pool, which is a salarycap within the larger NFL salary cap, applies to the first year of deals signedby first-year players.
Each team has its ownrookie pool number: The Oakland Raiders have the highest, $6.9 million, and theNew York Jets the lowest, $2.65 million. A club’s rookie pool number isaffected by the team’s position in the draft as well as how many picks the teamhas.
PRIORITY SIGNS NBA DRAFT PROSPECTS: PrioritySports & Entertainment, theChicago-based NBA and NFL player representation firm, has signed severalplayers for representation in the NBA draft, including USC guard Nick Young.
The firm also has signedCal State Fullerton guard Bobby Brown, Boston College forward JaredDudley, Syracuse center Darryl Watkins, Jackson State guard TreyJohnson and Gonzaga guard Derek Raivio.
Web site NBADraft.netranks Young No. 16, Brown No. 36 and Dudley No. 56 among prospects. The otherplayers are unranked.
Priority CEO and agent MarkBartelstein, as well as agents Aaron Mintz, Brad Ames and ReggieBrown represent the players.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
