Allen Iverson Is Still Worth $800,000 a Year to Reebok, CEO Says
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...lifetime-deal-is-still-working-out-for-reebok
Adidas’s Reebok International Ltd. is paying former Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson millions of dollars, even though he hasn’t played in the NBA for almost 10 years.
He’s still worth the money, Chief Executive Officer Matt O’Toole said on the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.
“He’s an iconic personality,” O’Toole said. “Let’s get on a plane to Shanghai together. You bring Allen Iverson into a market like that. I’ll stand firmly that he has a big place in basketball and sports history.”
Iverson won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2001 and, later that year, signed a lifetime endorsement and marketing deal with company, which at the time was led by CEO Paul Fireman. The new agreement was in addition to the 10-year, $50 million agreement Iverson signed in 1996, when the Sixers took him with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
The lifetime deal awarded Iverson $800,000 annually and includes a $32 million trust fund that the player can access when he turns 55 in 2030.
“He has a place in our heritage, and there is a group of consumers who want to connect to that,” O’Toole said. “He’s relevant for a lot of our consumers.”
Since signing Iverson, Reebok has shifted its focus from major sports like the NBA to customers interested in a fitness lifestyle. CrossFit and UFC are now the company’s biggest sports partners.
Iverson last went to Asia for Reebok in January. He’ll be there again next month.
