Beyond the Game: Next Gen Brand Insights Issue #4 : Long-term Deals For Iconic Basketball Players, and How Ryan Reynolds Has The Magic Marketing Touch

Beyond the Game: Next Gen Brand Insights

It’s time for another edition of Beyond the Game: Next Gen Brand  Insights, where we dive into the top trending topics in the sports, web3, and marketing worlds. This week, I’m breaking down the recently inked long-term deals signed by major athletes like Steph Curry and Kevin Durant with top sports brands, and more about the Hollywood-esque rise to glory story of Wrexham AFC via their most famous investors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Let’s get to it! 

Long-term Deals For Iconic Basketball Players Has Become Popular Methods for Global Expansion

Recently, top athletes Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry signed major deals with sports brands Nike and Under Armour respectively, in an effort for both brands to expand even further on the global market while aligning themselves with athletes who they believe have the star power and longevity to make the venture successful. 

The reason is that basketball is a global sport and stars of the National Basketball Association (NBA) are revered by fans around the world. The NBA continues to expand rapidly internationally so this investment can be amortized not just across sales in the USA but everywhere in the world these brands are distributed. Also, it is generally recognized that basketball is the holy grail of the athletic footwear industry with industry leader Nike enjoying more than a 50% market share and their investment in the category is unparalleled. 

Durant’s deal with Nike was a lifetime agreement, and only the 3rd to ever be offered in the history of the brand including initial recipient Michael Jordan, followed by Lebron James. Pretty great list to be added to. Durant had previously signed a 10 year deal in 2014 that had him making $250 million over the course of the decade and included a $50 million ‘retirement’ package at the end of the term. One can only assume the amount that Durant has agreed to, since the exact number has not been disclosed to the public, but Lebron James’ deal is speculated to be approximately $1 billion over the span of the contract, so Durant’s deal is regarded in similar valuation. The benefit for both athlete and brand is the stability for Durant’s life to have a powerful partnership no matter how the rest of his professional career shakes out, and for the brand to further amplify globally thanks to Durant’s clear influence on the game and fans. 

Steph Curry has also recently agreed to a massive deal with Under Armour to reach the same goal of global dominance for sports apparel and recognition. His deal is listed as a ‘long term’ partnership that differs from a more traditional agreement than Durant’s because of Curry’s interest in being more hands-on with Under Armour’s interior workings, including the capability to be a more creative and business focused asset in the company. The deal will place him as the president of the Curry Brand, give him access to recruitment of future talent and access to advise on business and marketing aspects of the brands as well as product development. It sounds a bit like they are borrowing from the Jordan Brand playbook which eventually spun off from Nike as its own standalone brand with roughly a 4% market share.

Specific deal terms for Curry and Under Armour are also still under wraps, but with Curry’s current total contract valuations exceeding $400 million, we can at least agree that this new contract will see a substantial benefit for the athlete. While similar to Nike’s global goals with Durant, Under Armour more so sees their investment in Curry and the Curry Brand as a benefit to their company on a worldwide stage, with one of the most influential athletes as not just a face of a line of products, but as an engine behind them as well. As this partnership progresses, it will be interesting to see if other brands take similar approaches and develop their athlete advisors as more than marketing aspects and instead implore them to drive more of the decision making process during a long-term agreement. 

Ryan Reynolds Has The Magic Marketing Touch: from Aviator Gin, To Mint Mobile and now: Wrexham

I’ve never been a Deadpool fan or one to line up for the next Ryan Reynolds’ movie, but the guy has proven to have great marketing instincts– and now that includes sports marketing. He has literally transformed Wrexham AFC from an unknown football club to water cooler conversation. In 2021, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney pursued a deal with a formerly down and out football club that had little hope of gaining glory in the ranks of the football world. In order for Wrexham, the third oldest football club in existence, to rise through the ranks and have any hope of one day making it to the Premier League, the team would need nothing short of a miracle. Enter Reynolds and McElhenney. In a joint attempt to turn the club around and start getting steadily promoted to higher and more prominent leagues in the football world, the actors promised to immediately plunge a whopping 2 million Pounds into the team upon approval to takeover the club, and included their unique approach to marketing through their own significant social media channels and followings, as well as creating partnerships with social media giants like TikTok , and streaming services like FX and #Disney+ for increased visibility. The investment alone seemed to stimulate not only the players on the pitch, but also the fans across the world who had been long-suffering supporters. The town of Wrexham positively embraced the Hollywood duo on their journey to see the team succeed through the ranks, and eventually win enough games and championships to be promoted to higher leagues. The added attention through unique and previously untapped resources such as a documentary series on the actors and the team drove more investments into the team, and created a revolution for a nearly forgotten football club.

While their first season as team owners in 2021-22 fell a single win short of promotion, it was still one of the most successful seasons the team had seen in years, amassing 88 total points,  and #RyanReynolds and Rob McElhenney kept to their tactics and pushed on even further in the 2022-23 season. By the end of April 2023, the team had amassed a record-breaking 111 points, earning an automatic promotion to the EFL League 2. To achieve such success in only two years of work is alone a great accomplishment, and it goes to show how strong relationships with media, fans, and talented athletes who are given an inspirational goal, can really propel any organization to success no matter how far in rankings they’d fallen. It will be incredibly interesting to see how other teams and brands are able to take this example of Reynolds and McElhenney and apply it to their own efforts. 

Signing Off

Those are the top trending topics for this week! What do you think about brands offering long-term or lifetime deals to athletes in further attempts to increase their global presence? Do you think social media and streaming services will start investing in partnerships with athletic teams and brands moving forward following the success of the Wrexham AFC? 

Stay tuned for another installment of Beyond the Game: Next Gen Brand Insights!