Two local items from this week underline this. The first is the continued reclamation of Michael Vick as a marketing tool. The other is the widely professed and anticipated end of the NFL lockout, at which time the Eagles are expected to make a big push for Redskins bad boy Albert Haynesworth.
Toss in the willingness of small-market Milwaukee to absorb the big salary and bad reputation of Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez and, well, there is a real sense of see-no-evil running rampant in the stands these days.
As soon as today, Vick is reportedly set to ink a 3-year deal worth $1.55 million to endorse MusclePharm, a company that sells supplements and workout-related products. This follows an announcement over the July Fourth weekend that Nike had re-signed Vick to an endorsement deal, 4 years after dropping him after his involvement in dogfighting became public. It is the first time, said Joe Mahan of Temple University's Sport Industry Research Center, that Nike has reversed field like this - a trend that seems to find its footing in the overall softening of fans' expectations when it comes to stars.
"Winning cures a lot of ills," Mahan said. "Being runner-up in the NFL MVP voting and winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award have helped - but I would not go as far as to say the stigma has worn off. While he has had some companies approach him, they are all sport-related brands . . .
"It would be quite different with non-sport brands - for example, he used to have deals with brands like Coca-Cola and Kraft - as these typically rely more on the public perception of an athlete."
