This Silver Medal May Have a Golden Lining

Two Canadian figure skaters are finding that the strange alchemy created by their Olympic-sized controversy could transform their silver medal into more valuable riches in the lucrative sports marketing arena.

A day after missing out on the gold medal in a controversial judging decision that has overshadowed everything else at the Winter Olympics, skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were schmoozing via satellite with “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno. During a long-distance interview Wednesday, CNN talk show host Larry King weighed in: “You got robbed, but you’re more famous for it.”

Famous, indeed. The skaters’ business manager, a newcomer to the close-knit world of skating, suddenly is fielding urgent calls from reporters, talk show hosts and assorted deal-makers. The skaters could be looking at starring roles in ice-skating tours and made-for-television specials, and potential product endorsements.

They aren’t alone in preparing for such riches that may await the biggest stars from the Games. Several skaters, including the Russian pair who defeated Sale and Pelletier, are represented by Cleveland-based IMG, a powerful sports marketing firm that owns a leading ice-skating revue and produces skating shows for television.

“If you had told me a couple of days ago that Jamie and David would be in this position having lost the gold medal, I would have laughed at you,” Craig E. Fenech, their business manager, said Wednesday night. “The events of the past 36 hours are astounding and probably unprecedented in figure skating.”

But long-term commercial success for Sale and Pelletier is still not assured.

The two still risk adding their names to the lengthy list of talented skating couples whose images quickly became lost amid the brighter lights generated by the more glamorous women’s singles competition. The sports marketing pie from the Winter Games, traditionally smaller than from the Summer Games, also has been reduced by the recession and post-attack advertising cutbacks.

“Olympians have been snake-bit,” said Bob Williams, a Chicago-based sports marketing executive. “The Olympics come back to U.S. soil for the last time in more than a decade, and they’re greeted by Sept. 11 and the biggest cutbacks in advertising history.”

Competition for Marketing Contracts

History suggests that Michelle Kwan and other high-profile women’s singles skaters are the favorites in the sports marketing arena. This year there also could be some competition from U.S. speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and the trio of U.S. half-pipe snowboarders who swept the medals. And, the commercial appeal of skaters Sale and Pelletier could fade if the judging controversy lingers indefinitely.

Skaters and skiers have used golden performances in recent Winter Games as springboards to deals with such major companies as Nike, General Mills Inc., United Airlines and Walt Disney Co. But few athletes have managed to find sustained commercial success.

“The days of the Peggy Flemings and Dorothy Hamills ringing the cash register seem to be over,” said Keith Bruce, a sports marketing expert with advertising agency Foote Cone & Belding in San Francisco, referring to two former U.S. figure skating gold medalists.

What’s clear is that had Sale and Pelletier walked away from Monday night’s finals with gold in hand, “they would have been yesterday’s news,” said Michael Rosenberg, a Palm Desert-based agent who has represented top-flight figure skaters since 1978. “With one stroke of a judge’s mark, their silver medal has truly turned into platinum.”

The media storm that erupted after a panel of judges awarded the gold to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze is being compared to the hurricane six years ago when the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan rivalry slipped from the ice to the police blotter.

The judging controversy is giving pairs skating more media attention than it’s had since the 1980 Lake Placid Games, when Randy Gardner injured a muscle and, along with partner Tai Babilonia, withdrew from competition just minutes before it began. But instead of fading into obscurity, the couple opened an unexpected chapter of their professional lives.

“Had Randy and Tai skated in 1980 and won, they would have been relegated to the history books,” said Rosenberg, who served as their agent. “But they didn’t. And they got endorsements, NBC made a movie of their life and they were the stars of every skating tour there was. They were the heartbreak kids, America’s sweethearts.”

Networks broadcasting the Olympics clearly relish controversy. Ratings rose dramatically six years ago as the Harding-Kerrigan affair played out. And, as any radio talk show host will attest, sports fans also love controversy.

“The two biggest sports stories out there right now are the Canadian skaters in Salt Lake City and Mike Tyson in Georgia,” Rosenberg said.

Image and manners are as important as talent and athletic prowess in the mercurial world of sports marketing. Experts agree that the Canadians are continuing to hit their marks in the wake of their near-flawless Monday night performance.

One sports marketing executive called the Canadians “a dream couple.” Another described them as “the honest, pure representation of what the Olympics and sports are all about, and they’ve both handled themselves in a classy way, without taking swipes at anyone.”

Sale’s perky, ear-to-ear smile is infectious, they say, and Pelletier’s free spirit was immediately evident Monday night when the tall skater fell to his knees and kissed the ice. Whether it’s good sportsmanship or good coaching, the two clearly are playing the role of gracious losers victimized by a flawed system.

Though they’re the reigning world champions--having beaten the same Russian couple for the title--Sale and Pelletier are coming across as the underdogs. That makes the couple even more appealing to Americans, even if the skaters hail from the out-of-the-way towns of Red Deer, Alberta, and Sayabec, Quebec.

With their performance now on ice, the skaters will be meeting as much with their business manager as with their coach. So will others.

The Russian couple is represented by IMG, which represents Tiger Woods and many other athletes and celebrities. IMG, not coincidentally, owns the Stars on Ice skating show, and its television arm has produced such recent shows as “Hallmark Skaters’ Championship” and “Holiday Festival on Ice.”

Sale and Pelletier face significant decisions during the coming weeks, including whether to turn professional.

“If they choose to continue to skate, they can make a tremendous amount of money,” marketer Williams said. “The ice shows will want them because they’ll pack people into the seats. And they’ll help these shows to get better TV ratings.”

Fenech, their business manager, is a New Jersey businessman who has represented athletes, coaches and sports writers during 20 years in the business. But he’s a newcomer to figure skating and Sale and Pelletier are relatively new clients. So Fenech said he has immersed himself in “the most intensive course in figure skating over the past year that you could ever imagine.”

Off the ice, Fenech’s goal is relatively simple: Use his clients’ new-found fame to jump-start business opportunities both on and off the ice. Despite being the world pairs champions, Sale and Pelletier signed just two endorsement deals in Canada--with Cheerios and MasterCard--before the Winter Games. The couple wasn’t included on lists of most promising endorsement candidates that advertising and marketing executives drew up before the Games.

No Guarantees, but Well-Positioned

There are no guarantees that endorsement deals will fall into their laps, but the skaters clearly are positioned to cash in on their unlikely fame.

Sale and Pelletier should benefit from their decision not to sign a contract with any major ice-skating revues before the Games. The decision wasn’t without risk because the couple’s show-business appeal normally would have evaporated had they missed the gold. Also, individual skaters, including Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi and Kurt Browning, traditionally are the headliners in made-for-television skating shows.

“Now, the gamble is going to pay off because they’re calling the shots,” agent Rosenberg said. “Suddenly, it’s a seller’s market.”

Sale and Pelletier also have solidified their role as national heroes in Canada, where their fame is expected to generate more endorsements.

But the sports marketing arena can be as tricky to navigate as the slick skating surface in the Salt Lake Ice Center. For starters, the sports marketing industry is decidedly smaller in Canada than in the U.S., and the value of endorsements is much lower.

Sale and Pelletier turned down “a number of deals” while training for the Olympics, Fenech said. “They didn’t want to distract themselves from their goal of winning a gold medal. Presumably, we’ll be talking to those people again, as well as some of those who are calling now.”

Not everyone is convinced that a silver medal and a judging controversy represents the right stuff for a successful endorsement career.

“I might be the lone wolf, but I don’t know if this will translate into money for them,” marketer Williams said. “Three months from now, I doubt that Joe Average Consumer is going to remember why these skaters didn’t win.”

The Canadians’ run for sports-marketing gold arguably was advanced when American skiing favorites Picabo Street and Jonny Moseley failed to win gold medals. But the Canadians could find themselves overshadowed if a relative unknown turns in a riveting performance. There’s also the undeniable star power of Kwan and the other high-powered women skaters.

“Look at the clean sweep in snowboarding, which already is ancient news,” said advertising agency executive Bruce. If any of the big three American women singles skaters--Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes or Kwan--wins gold, “that potentially becomes the story.”

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