Athlete franchisees make all-star marketers

The average yearly salary for an NBA player is $5.15 million; the average yearly earnings for an NFL player total $1.9 million. But what happens when the jerseys come off? Time and time again, pro athletes prove the benefits of investing in franchise brands, not just by capitalizing on the brand’s growth, but also by lending their star power to marketing efforts. According to the NBA Players Association, roughly 60 percent of NBA players find themselves bankrupt five years after retiring, and as reported by Sports Illustrated, 78 percent of NLF players are in financial trouble two years after retirement. Seeing an opportunity to help educate athletes after their time on the field, Michael Stone, an NFL safety for seven years, pioneered the Professional Athletes Franchise Initiative, a subdivision of the International Franchise Association, which educates pro athletes on franchising opportunities – a profitable business venture that offers them earnings and built-in publicity. "Professional athletes are becoming more conscious about the longevity of their careers and realizing more effort should be placed into planning for a professional life beyond sports," Stone said in a statement. Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome “The Bus” Bettis signed with Papa John’s, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL, last June as a franchisee to own three restaurants in Pittsburgh. Bettis purchased the locations through a partnership with Bajco Group, which planned to open additional restaurants in the area in the next few years. To capitalize on Bettis’ fame and to celebrate the partnership, all Pittsburgh-area Papa John’s restaurants offered 36 percent off, a nod to Bettis’ jersey number, of all menu prices for a limited time when customers used a promotional code. Papa John’s seems to have cornered the pro-athlete market, pulling in the faces of former NFL players like Peyton Manning, who signed with the pizza franchise in 2012 (despite pulling in $12 million annually in endorsement deals from Buick, DirecTV and Gatorade) to own 25 stores in the Denver area. The Broncos quarterback also connected with the brand in commercials with founder and chief executive John Schnatter, as well as for major promotions, including Papa John’s Super Bowl promotion, in which winners received a free large, one-topping pizza if they correctly called the coin toss. Former Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman is an investor and board member with Wingstop (along with music mogul Rick Ross) and previously was the chain’s pitchman. Not stopping at just wings, the Hall of Fame quarterback joined Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to grow the Dunkin’ Donuts brand in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, promising to open at least 50 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in five years. Ty Law, retired cornerback for the New England Patriots, stretched his business savvy by creating Launch Trampoline Park, an indoor sports and family entertainment facility. Making the business even more enticing, the franchise offers the “Ty’s Blast Off,” a package for parties. The website claims, “You never know when he will be bouncing around the trampolines with some of his Patriot friends or if he’ll want to take you on in a friendly game of trampoline dodgeball.” Some pro athletes have gone beyond franchising, adding prefixes like CEO and COO to their titles. Former NBA star and franchise tycoon Jamal Mashburn is starting his own ad agency in Chicago with former Ogilvy & Mather senior partner, Jonathan Sackett. The Mashburn Sackett agency proved to be an easy transition for Mashburn, who also owns and operates locations of Outback Steakhouse, Papa John’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as two car dealerships. More and more athletes are turning to franchising (you can now buy a smoothie at Venus Williams’ Jamba Juice) and more resources are available to help them break into the industry, not only as operators but also as more passive investors. Steve Levenson, founder of The Playbook Solutions Group Franchise Income Fund, which helps professional athletes ease into franchising, explains that athletes are well-prepared for this type of endeavor. "Like a team's successful playbook, franchising works because it's a replicable model,” Levenson explains in a news release. “Our team of experts is ready to provide investors with a new, stable and predictable income source." On or off the playing field, these jocks-turned-franchisees have found success and have found a way to keep their sports legacy alive — and lucrative.