Chicago Bulls forward Jimmy Butler sees rise in appearance fees, endorsementsCrain's Chicago Business
May 23, 2015
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150523/ISSUE01/305239996/chicago-bulls-forward-jimmy-butler-sees-rise-in-appearance-fees#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-weeklyalert&utm_campaign=ccb-weeklyalert-20150523Right now it's good to be Jimmy Butler—and not just because the Bulls forward-turned-restricted free agent will soon sign a new playing contract worth a heap more than the $44 million offer he reportedly turned down last fall.
After the best season of his four-year NBA career, endorsement offers are rolling in for the 25-year-old, who recently has hawked brands such as Mountain Dew and True Religion jeans and appeared in ads for BMO Harris and the Illinois Lottery.
Butler's projected appearance fee doubled last month to $30,000 for a two-hour showing, according to Thuzio, one of the largest online databases of sports talent booking information. That's on par with NBA stars Paul Pierce, Tony Parker and James Harden, among others. Locally, the only pro athletes who can charge more are the Bulls' Derrick Rose ($50,000), the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane ($50,000) and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler ($40,000), according to Thuzio.
While experts peg Butler's current annual endorsement income in the mid-six figures—outside of the millions-plus commanded by most of the top 30 or so highest-earning NBA players—
the number of inquiries from companies wanting to use him for marketing purposes has doubled since January, his agent says. Future deals are in a holding pattern, however, until Butler decides where he will play in the fall.“Jimmy never wanted to do anything until he felt that he was worthy of it,” says Happy Walters, Butler's agent at Los Angeles-based Relativity Sports. ”Now he's more confident and more willing.” Butler, who declined an interview request about his business profile, is selective in what he promotes, his agent says. Out of personal preference, he opted to drop Adidas as his official apparel brand in favor of Nike's Jordan brand last year, taking what Walters says was a 75 percent pay cut.
“A lot of guys get in the NBA and want to do everything that comes by because they want to see their faces somewhere,” Walters says. “Jimmy has been really patient.”
But the Tomball, Texas, native and Marquette University graduate remains a regional star, relevant only to Chicagoans, from a marketability standpoint. Reaching a broader audience off the court will require more wins on it—a problem for the Bulls after several seasons of falling short of playoff expectations.
If the team re-signs Butler this summer, it likely will be for around $15 million per year—a sum that could complicate the team's payroll picture with high-priced core players Rose and Joakim Noah.
“He's on the rise,” says Doug Shabelman, president of Evanston-based Burns Entertainment, which brokers deals between companies and celebrities. ”But his ability to get to that next level will somewhat depend on the team's success.”
A COMPELLING BIO
Even with the Bulls' lack of playoff success holding him back from potentially becoming a national celebrity, Butler has one key advantage in attracting brands: He's emerging amid a dearth of local athlete star power. While player stalwarts such as Rose and Noah and the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews dominate the Chicago sports spotlight, the market is thin on big personalities. Cubs and White Sox players mostly are still proving their worth. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is well-known beyond football—in part because of his reality TV star wife, Kristin Cavallari—but he appears uninterested in endorsements.
That means limited options for companies looking for a transcendent young pro athlete to help them make a splash in Chicago. “There is a definite opening for Jimmy to take that next step,” Shabelman says.
Known as a workhorse who doesn't do much talking on the court—where he's played more minutes than any Bulls player over the past two seasons—the country-music-loving Texan has appeared frequently in Bulls promotional videos this season, doing everything from dancing to singing Taylor Swift songs.
“He's much more comfortable,” Walters says. “He's a lot of fun and loves kids.” There's also his compelling personal story. Abandoned by his mother at age 13, Butler was homeless for a time. And while he's hesitant to speak about that aspect of his life, his back story has made him appealing for brands wanting to reach at-risk youth. Jeremy Harper, senior director of marketing at Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg's, says Butler's “great reputation on and off the court” as well as his “humble upbringing and commitment to helping provide resources to children in need” led the company to make him a headliner of a “national breakfast week” promotion this spring.
Butler has steadily built a social media persona that could pay off, too. He counts more than 364,000 Instagram followers—an increase of 60 percent since Jan. 1, according to social media tracking site Blinkfire Analytics. That lands him in the top 40 among 322 NBA players with active accounts tracked by Thuzio.
How much will it cost a brand to get a shoutout on his Instagram account? $10,000—though his agent says he's unaware of any such formal deals so far.
