Giants Are Cashing In on Super Bowl Success

The New York Giants battled the image of the Chicago Bears throughout the 1986 NFL season, finally creating their own identity with a victory in Super Bowl XXI.

Now the Giants must fight the memory of the Bears’ off-season exploits in an attempt to turn their gridiron success into dollars.

Playing in the New York area is a natural boost for the Giants’ earning power, but their strategy is different from the Bears’ saturation of the market a year ago.

No Giants will be as visible as Jim McMahon or William (The Refrigerator) Perry were last year. Some are writing books, several will appear on the TV game show “Holywood Squares” and a few will make television commercials--but Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor and their teammates will use restraint during the upcoming months.

“I think the Bears overdid it last year,” said Steve Rosner of Pro Asset Management, Inc., who represents Taylor and linebacker Carl Banks.

David Fishoff, who represents Super Bowl MVP Simms and four teammates, said the Giants should try for long-term financial success. Commercially, the Bears are already on their way down.

“It’s over for the Fridge, it’s over for McMahon,” he said. “This will be very profitable for Phil, but it’s not a one-shot deal.

“I’ve read that the Giants aren’t as marketable as other teams, I disagree. People who have said those things are agents who don’t represent any Giants.”

Fishoff’s clients benefited from their Super Bowl exposure. Nose tackle Jim Burt and wide receiver-punt returner Phil McConkey made sure never to miss an interview opportunity and all of his clients except Simms wrote newspaper columns during Super Bowl week.

McConkey, a marginal player who was cut by the Giants in preseason and re-signed four weeks later, helped his cause by catching a touchdown pass in the 39-20 triumph over Denver. He and Simms are sharing a book project, tentatively called “From Simms to McConkey.”

Burt, Taylor and defensive end Leonard Marshall are also writing books.

“McConkey is having a great off-season,” Fishoff said of the former Navy pilot. “He did a lot of things before the game, and he went out and delivered.”

Fishoff also represents offensive linemen Brad Benson and Bill Ard. He said Benson, a nine-veteran tackle who finally escaped a reputation for mediocrity and made the Pro Bowl this season, is also having a busy off-season.

Simms, the golden boy quarterback with a clean-cut image, has the best earning potential of the Giants. Fishoff said Simms has the potential to turn his sterling Super Bowl showing into $1 million before the 1987 season begins. He will do a commercial to sell fur coats, print advertisements for a brokerage firm, public speaking engagements and two instructional videos.

Simms is reluctant to jump on every offer that comes his way, however, and that helps his teammates.

“There won’t be any resentment to Phil,” Fishoff said. “A lot of times things will come in and Phil will say, ‘Give it to my teammates.’ Things like that will keep a team together.

“If they see Phil Simms doesn’t abuse the off-season, they won’t let it get out of hand. Look at what happened last year with the Bears; there was a lot of resentment with McMahon.”

When Simms turned down “Hollywood Squares,” Burt and McConkey agreed to share a square instead.

Part of Simms’ restraint is marketing strategy. Some of it also comes from his being uncomfortable in public.

“It’s embarrassing,” he said of the attention he’s received since the Super Bowl. “It’s different when you play. You’re a different person on the field, you can hide behind a uniform. I find it hard to look at myself on television, maybe because I’m not impressed with that guy up there.”

Taylor is more outgoing, and his style of play could turn him into a type of pitchman like Lyle Alzado, Bubba Smith or Dick Butkus. But his market value is hurt by his past: a year ago he was underwent rehabilitation for “substance” abuse. Taylor was subdued off the field during the 1986 season and refuses to talk about his personal problems.

The bulk of Taylor’s off-season activity will be speaking engagements and corporate golf outings. He has had his share of endorsement offers, but not the kind he wants.

“He makes his living on the field,” Rosner said of Taylor. “He’s not going to be like the Refrigerator and put out a doll. I think in April and May companies will come around, when they start a new cycle.

“Not only is he Lawrence Taylor, who is an All-Pro for six years, he’s a character.”

Taylor’s book is tentatively titled “Lawrence Taylor: Living on the Edge.”

Despite his troubled off-season, Rosner said Taylor has earned about $250,000 in off-field enterprises since last September. Rosner hopes to stretch that figure to about a million by next September.

Taylor makes between $7,500 and $10,000 for golf appearances.