Bo’s Ad Value May Drop Due to Retirement : Marketing: The injured athlete may keep the contracts he’s got, but he might not get new deals.

As Bo Jackson recovers from hip replacement surgery, he may be spared at least one annoyance: a constantly ringing phone.

Companies now using Jackson as a celebrity endorser said Wednesday that they plan to stick with the former two-sport star, but marketing experts believe that he is unlikely to pick up any major new deals.

“The party’s over,” said Martin Blackman, a New York City talent agent.

Jackson, 29, who has earned millions of dollars lending his name and image to Nike, Pepsi and other advertisers, on Tuesday announced plans to undergo surgery that will probably end his athletic career.

“His value will definitely drop off,” said David Burns, who runs a Chicago-based celebrity booking service. “When you’re not an active player, you can’t command the same kind of attention.”

Yet Susann McKee, Jackson’s business manager, noted that her client enjoyed his best year as an advertising vehicle in 1991--earning “much more” than $1 million--even though his hip injury forced him to retire from football and kept him sidelined for all but a month of the baseball season.

“I’m working on a new proposal for him right now,” McKee said from her office at Bo Jackson Enterprises in Mobile, Ala.

Some experts counted Jackson out of the ad game last year after he injured his hip in a Los Angeles Raiders football game in January.

But Nike, which had developed a line of cross-training shoes and apparel around Jackson, decided to use his physical rehabilitation as a theme in its TV commercials.

“As far as we’re concerned, he’s still a viable spokesperson for Nike--maybe even more so now,” Nike spokesman Dusty Kidd said.

Pepsi also played off the injury in a Jackson spot for its “Chill Out” campaign last summer.

Jackson’s other significant contracts are with Franklin Sports Industries, which carries a Bo Jackson line of sports equipment; Diversified Products, which makes exercise equipment; Tiger Electronics, manufacturer of a Bo Jackson electronic game, and Cramer Products, which developed a line of medical products around him.

Joel Karlik at Franklin Sports said the Jackson-endorsed line of baseball gloves and footballs sold well in 1991 despite his inactivity, and the firm sees no reason to change now. But the true test of Jackson’s commercial longevity may come in July, when Nike rolls out its new campaign for the cross-training line.