Shaking up the roster

Shoe companies turn to entertainers over athletes.

By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Dwyane Wade's multimillion-dollar deal last week made him the highest-paid athlete in Converse history.

The Heat guard is poised to become the most prominent face since Dr. J. at a brand that once ruled 80 percent of its market, stumbled in changing times and now hopes to soar again.

But he's not competing with athletes alone anymore. Check out the shelves at the mall. The fastest-growing segment: shoes endorsed by rap and hip-hop artists, such as G-Unit's 50 Cent. Coming attractions include a Hurricane from a rival rapper, The Game.

As good as Wade is, not everyone is sure big endorsement contracts with athletes are in tune with the times.

"The big shift is away from serious athletic shoes and serious athletes toward lifestyle shoes and artist endorsements," said Clyde Smith, who writes a trade blog called Hip Hop Business News. "So, though I don't make predictions, I expect to see further growth from shoes endorsed by rappers, and I don't expect overwhelming success for Dwyane Wade's shoes."

Sales of "casual" shoes, such as the G-Unit treads that straddle the worlds of sports and fashion, grew 24.5 percent last year, while basketball shoes grew just 0.3 percent, according to industry tracker SGMA International.

Entertainers branching out
The Game, a.k.a. Jayceon Taylor, ran into unfortunate timing with the name of his coming Hurricane shoe, so he will offer donations to relief agencies. But he announced: "I'm moving beyond just being an entertainer and becoming an entrepreneur. As an athlete and a sneaker fan, I'm ready to drop my own completely original design — an essential, multipurpose shoe."

Wade and his business agent, Henry Thomas, recognized how slippery the financial footing has become for athlete-endorsers. Reebok and adidas, which plan to merge in order to challenge market-leader Nike, have been reaching out to entertainers as well as athletes to appeal to younger, urban buyers. Even those sticking primarily with athletes — such as Nike, which bought Converse in 2003 — have become increasingly picky about the deals they make.

"There were points in time throughout these negotiations that neither one of us was necessarily confident a deal could get done," said Thomas, executive vice president of the basketball division at Chicago-based Coordinated Sports Management Group. "I knew the trend. Certainly we've seen some of the shoe companies go to the rap industry to endorse their products."

In the end, Thomas said, "I also knew Dwyane was one of the few guys in the sport that could command that kind of shoe deal."

Ric Wilson, Converse's director of sports marketing, called it "the most significant deal Converse has done." Wade's personality and style "transcend what he does on the basketball court," Wilson said.

Slam-dunk deals grow rare
Financial terms were not announced for Wade's six-year renewal, but sources described it as in the "multimillions," far exceeding his previous three-year, $400,00 contract with Converse.

That would probably place it somewhere below Nike's deals with Kobe Bryant ($40 million), LeBron James' (seven years, $90 million) and Michael Jordan (five years, $47 million). But it puts Wade at the top of the heap for Converse.

"The contract will make him the highest-paid athlete in the history of Converse," Thomas said. "One of the things attractive about the Converse offer was, in addition to the financial aspect, he is going to be the face of this brand."

Indisputably, Wade enters his third season with Miami as a rising star. He averaged 24.1 points, 6.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds last season, in which the Heat finished a game away from the NBA Finals. His signature shoe is set to hit stores Nov. 3, the day of the Heat's home opener against Indiana. The Wade shoe is expected to retail for $90.

Wade drives an Cadillac Escalade and quotes the occasional lyric by The Game in interviews, but he's best known for self-effacing answers when Shaquille O'Neal compliments him. Wade has donated a bunch of shoes to Marquette, his alma mater. That wins him good-guy points. But does it sell shoes?

Since Jordan, slam-dunk shoe endorsements by players have proved rare, said Todd Boyd, the professor of critical studies at Southern California known as "The Hip Hop Professor."

Reviving a classic brand
"Converse hasn't really had a name since Dr. J.," Boyd said. "Wade is a very exciting player. He's young and his career looks to be quite promising. It all depends on how much visibility he gets playing with Shaquille O'Neal.

"In order to really move a shoe, you need to get to the finals on a regular basis, or you need to be a pop culture icon, like Allen Iverson."

Even championships do not guarantee big sales. For all his rings with the Lakers, Shaq has never rivaled Jordan as a shoe salesman. Nike continued paying Bryant after his rape trial and acquittal but held off on a signature shoe.

Into all this wades Dwyane.

"He's a Chicago guy, explosive to the basket. He has a certain style the way he does things," Boyd said. "At this point, though, it's not about being the best basketball player. As great a player as Tim Duncan is, he's not going to sell any shoes. He doesn't have that persona. It's about standing above the crowd. Just being a good guy and clean-cut guy is not going to do it. "

Don't underestimate Wade's crossover move, said Thomas, Wade's business agent.

"He appeals to corporate America because he does have a clean-cut image," Thomas said. "He has no tattoos. At the same time, the way he plays, he does appeal to the hip-hop generation."

Wade's black Heat jersey sold faster than Shaq's at Champs in the Palm Beach Mall, salesmen there said, although sales of his early Converse shoes have been sporadic.

G-Unit shoes, which have helped earn 50 Cent an estimated $20 million, cooled in recent months after an earlier spike at nearby Foot Locker. Perception on the street, according to one salesman: The rapper got a big head.

Game goes beyond the court
Give kids a little credit, said another sales associate, Legrand Marseille. He thinks Wade commands respect because he has earned his contracts with his play in the NBA.

"The only reason people perceive LeBron James is bigger is because he got so much money coming out of high school," Marseille said. "Wade is actually working for his money."

Cross-promoting shoes has never been more complicated. Shoe companies are signing deals with video-game makers to feature shoes in elaborate detail on NBA players and fictional characters created by game players. In some cases, game players can earn the right to wear certain models, and some game makers plan to release game codes to allow the appearance of new shoes as they are released.

Wade landed on the cover of an upcoming video game, EA Sports' NBA Live 06, although the game company's shoe agreement is with Reebok. Shaq will appear on the cover of Take-Two Interactive's NBA 2K6 game, which features a "strategic partnership" with Nike. Wade will wear his (presumably earlier-model) Converse shoes in that virtual world, a spokesman for the game maker said.

Can Wade put new hop in Converse?

"I think Converse is betting on it," Thomas said.