Winter Games gold easier to come by than rich endorsements

Reporting from Richmond, Canada — 

Because speedskater Eric Heiden shaved maybe once a month, by his own count, the endorsement deal with Gillette didn’t make sense. So he passed.

And he passed on countless other offers too, more intent on camping and returning to school, riding his bike instead of riding five gold medals to his own personal mint. Even in 1980, before celebrity was as ephemeral as an eye blink, Heiden went from Lake Placid to the raging waters of notoriety thanks to the hardware around his neck.

“Back then, you had really no chance of being a professional athlete and a very small chance of using your Olympic career to gain financial success, so it was never really something that was part of the equation when I was competing,” said Heiden, who is now team doctor for U.S. Speedskating.

“After I was done, I was like, whoa, man alive. That perception changed.”

Heiden was the exception then, much like Apolo Anton Ohno is now. The short-track star and seven-time medalist has his picture slapped on passenger jets, thanks to an Alaskan Airlines sponsorship. But the vast majority of the medal winners in these Winter Games will find tougher sledding than that.

Perhaps not much has changed in that regard from the time Heiden burst through in 1980 -- he concedes his success doesn’t give him the best perspective on what those with fewer medals face. But whether it’s a lack of infatuation with Winter Games sports or a still-recovering economy that is risk-averse, medalists from Vancouver aren’t in line for a windfall.

“The inherent challenges of being an Olympic athlete are made that much tougher by the economy,” said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “People want bang for their buck, and unfortunately, the inherent honeymoon effect of Olympic champions gives them just a brief window to take advantage of any success they’ve had.

“Brands are being somewhat reluctant in trying to throw a bunch of money at people without knowing there’s a real strong business return behind it. History just shows these athletes, fairly or unfairly, blend back into the ethos once the Games are in our rearview mirror.”

Essentially, exceedingly few of the athletes at these Winter Games will find such success and fame that they become instantly set for life or even set for a good portion of it. There can be an initial boost to a medal performance; as Alpine skier Scott McCartney remarked to the Seattle Times, “If you ski fast, you ... can make $50,000 in a day.”

But setting up a long-term franchise is generally the most intelligent play. Ohno has seven medals, but is his fame merely abetted by a “Dancing With the Stars” appearance or a direct result of it?

“It’s really about the personality of the athlete,” said Rob Prazmark, founder and chief executive of 21 Sports & Entertainment Marketing Group. “You’ll have this glow and image and recognition, and how you continue to manage that going forward is really the true answer to the financial question.”

The USOC works with agents and sponsors to find the best fits with its athletes, and through that process, short-track speedskater Katherine Reutter was on the Anheuser-Busch float in the Rose Bowl parade.

Reutter has not medaled in Vancouver and probably was eyeing 2014 as a breakthrough year anyway. But a foothold now could provide a greater leap in the areas of sponsorship should she find greater achievement down the line.

“If you get engagement now, you can build it long-term,” said Susan Goldsmith, a marketing director for the USOC.

“Every American is glued to the TV right now, watching NBC. Athletes become names in living rooms and coffee shops and on trains and planes. And the momentum eventually slowly subsides. Those that haven’t become as well known over the years, then you are looking at a shortened time frame for them.”

Heiden, meanwhile, still finds opportunities float his way, especially around the Olympics. So, too, do “Miracle on Ice” legends Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig, though like Heiden, they rely on Olympic fame only to boost income from their regular jobs.

Lest the athlete somehow transcends his or her sport, a medal often does not become a laurel upon which an Olympic athlete can rest, especially not in a better-but-not-thriving economic climate such as this.

“Non-endemic sponsors like McDonald’s and Campbell Soup and Subway and fill in the rest, they’re just not as willing to invest in Olympic athletes but for the rare case,” Swangard said. “It’s about exposure and visibility for my brand, these athletes just can’t do it the way that other sports more consistently covered can.”

bchamilton@tribune.com