After years of being shunned by corporate America, he is now being embraced.
Yet, Muhammad Ali has not boxed professionally in more than a quarter of a century. And while he is mentally fit, Parkinson syndrome has left him wobbly, slower and eerily quiet.
Never mind that.
Ali is one of sports marketing's hottest commodities. His mug is popping up in more places than it was at the peak of his career.
He is Chevy TV spots.
He is in print ads for Rockport Shoes, Apple Computer and Morton's steakhouse. He has been enshrined on the commercial hallmark of all athletics: the Wheaties box, and it is one of the top-sellers.
Marketing executives estimate Ali could earn more than US$5 million annually, in commercial ventures, over the next few years.
While that may pale in comparison to the US$40 million that former Chicago Bulls star Michael Johnson pocketed from endorsements last 1999, it is nearly five times what Ali is believed to have earned last year from commercial ventures.
"This will be Muhammad's year," said Mrs Lonnie Ali, his wife of 12 years who is his closest adviser at their firm, Greatest Of All Time.
"The resurgence of Muhammad is far from coincidental. He has opened the eye of a lot of people. He stands for something."
This recent explosion of commercial interest does not overly impress the 65-year old man who makes the calls on most his commercial venture from his farm in Berrian Springs, Michigan.
He posed willingly for a photo for USA Today. But even after Lonnie invited a reporter to talk to him about his endorsement opportunities, he nixed the invitation.
"I weed out the proposals," said Lonnie. "He makes the final decisions."
Ali's popularity is expanding into an odd mix of commercial ventures.
The most ambitious may be a Columbia Pictures film starring Will Smith as the former boxer for the millennium 2000.
There is more. A Broadway musical about the boxer's life. A new book about his spiritual side is in his works.
"Muhammad Ali's place in history is much larger than the next deal he's going to do," said Mr. Ron DiNicola, his lawyer.
"But there's a synergy right now between who he is as an activist and what he is as a businessman."
Ali and Lonnie recently turned to sports marketing powerhouse IMG to market him into the next century.
He is topical. He is a favorite to be named sportsman or athlete of the century in media events sponsored by Sports Illustrated and ESPN.
"Imagine all the interest in Muhammad,and he's not even doing what he's most famous for: boxing and talking," joked Mr. Barry Frank, his agent at IMG.
A far cry from the late '70s when about the best corporate gig Ali could muster was to hype D-Con roach killer.
Years of mismanagement, bad investments and two divorces did not leave him broke; he still earns up to US100,000 for each appearance.
But his wealth is meager compared to that of recent sports superstars such as Jordan or ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky.
Ali re-emergence seems propelled by something more than pure capitalism. Even the most hardened sports marketing gurus suggested it is somehow spiritual too.
Just ask Brian Murphy. The publisher of Sports Marketing Letter never considered himself an Ali fan.
Then, like many Americans, he watched as a physically-humbled Ali lit the flame to begin the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.
"I suddenly felt something that I never felt for the guy before,"Murphy said.
"I loved him. Not out of pity. But out of respect. He was terribly, terribly controversial through his whole career, but he was authentic the whole way through. And controversial as he was, he never made you ashamed to be a fan."
To many fans. Ali stands for something more than record three heavyweight championships he won through the '60s and '70s. During the era when the US was divided over the Vietnam War and civil rights issues, he never ducked taking provocative stands.
In 1964 he declared himself a Black Muslim and changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. And in 1967, as a conscientious objector, he refused induction into the military.
As a result he was barred from the ring and stripped of his boxing title.
It is in part, new appreciation of his uncompromising stances that have helped make him a New Age hero in a nation yearning for one.
Marketeers are wise to this. General Mills snubbed Ali in his entire career. But it finally put his mug on a Wheaties box in 1999.
Results: "Millions and millions and millions" sold, said spokesman Greg Simprich.
Shoemaker Rockport put him in a print ad in 1999. Now, visits to its website are up 300 per cent.
"If Ali were in his prime today,' said sports agent Leonard Armato, who represents boxing star Oscar De La Hoya, "he would utterly re-define how sports, marketing and entertainment collide."
USA Today
Posted by Francis Lim
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