So have you been caught up in all the hoopla – the ‘ballers’ are back in town. In the worlds most famous sport arguably two of Kenya’s best known exports are Dennis Oliech and McDonald Mariga. And as I said you can’t have missed it – one of them handing out cash at a local premier league game and another caught on camera driving away from the car dealer in a mint new Hummer. With the inflated salaries in some European leagues, even a bench warmer can earn a pretty penny. Good on them I say, but the real money is in endorsements. It is estimated that companies world wide spend close to one billion dollars on athlete and celebrity endorsements each year and for good reason. I agree with Donald Kipkorir writing in the Daily Nation when he said that we read in the media about how much our athletes win in races or make playing football and we say 'wow' - but only if we knew how much more they could earn through endorsements.
The highest-paid athletes in the world make money from a combination of salaries, bonuses, prize money and endorsements - and endorsements are by far the largest income deriver. In 2009 Tiger Woods earned Ksh 7.5 billion alone in endorsements before his image implosion. So why aren’t our sports stars making Tiger Woods money? Ok, maybe not Tiger Woods money but why not Manny Paquiao, Wayne Rooney, Usain Bolt or Lewis Hamilton cash? Again to quote Kipkorir, ‘With the amount of money they earn, spending a little part of it to be polished and learning to speak well is worth every cent. It doesn’t matter how many records one breaks or what football clubs one has been signed into, language and style limitation is a real limitation. Just watch the sports SOYA awards and you'll know what I'm talking about. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike and Puma will not call on them. The few millions in Kenya shillings they earn in a year will never be millions of dollars.'
No comments:
Post a Comment