Romanian athletes not drawing much interest from advertisers

The great Romanians sports champions have so far failed to break into the advertising industry, and this is visible in the size of their accounts. It is obvious that in order to reach a contract with a great company it is not enough to win major sports competitions, one also needs to know how to "put on a show" during their public appearances.

In the US as well as in Western Europe, performers such as Lucian Bute, the women of the handball team, the girls of the famous 8+1 canoe team or the female gymnasts trained by Octavian Belu, make millions of Euros from advertising alone. A cursory glance at the contracts signed by the world"s greatest athletes shows the huge gap between their earnings and those of the domestic champions, even though the performances of the latter match those of the former.

Gheorghe Hagi, Ilie Năstase and Nadia Comăneci are among the few who succeeded in breaking into advertising, as they were involved in the promotional campaigns of several companies. The Romanian football team is another way of increasing the odds of landing a major advertising contract, as was the case of Cristi Chivu, Bogdan Lobonţ and Răzvan Lucescu. Adrian Mutu was one of the players who earned a fortune advertising for Pepsi, Cardinal Motors, Adidas, Mizuno, Dolce & Gabbana, Undici, Souvenir Clubbing, Cotton Belt, Perenna, but his latest suspension due to his consumption of sibutramine, made him less attractive for the aforementioned companies. It is true however that most of his contracts were won in Italy.

However, it all seems to stop there. The Romanian Olympic or world champions aren"t feeling the love of advertisers. Many of them say that the lack of media coverage prevents them from reaping the financial benefits of their athletic achievements. For instance, last week, the national handball team won the World Cup for the second time, but this success did not receive the media coverage it would have deserved. Lucian Bute, world boxing champion and a major star in Canada, hasn"t made much of an impression in Romania. Conversely, many athletes in the US could live off their advertising contracts exclusively. Luckily for them they make a lot of money from their sports.

The world"s fastest man, sprinter Usain Bolt had the right moves outside the track as well: he succeeded to sign a three-year contract worth 15 million Euros with sportswear company Puma.

Real Madrid football player Cristiano Ronaldo wins a bit more than that - he made 6 million Euros per season from Nike, since football sells better than athleticism. However, there are exceptions, as golf player Tiger Woods ranks among the highest earners. Since 2000, Woods was paid 20 million dollars a year by Nike, even though recently his public image took a blow due to his family issues. Nevertheless, Nike sells sportswear worth 650 million Euros each year with his name.

The best paid European athlete, Swiss Roger Federer, signed in 2008 a ten year contract with Nike, worth 130 million dollars.