ABSTRACT
One of the most recognizable practices for athletes to benefit commercially from their image rights is as an endorser to help sell a company’s products or services. Many professional athletes can earn as much as, or more, from endorsements than from their professional salaries. For example, in 2014 professional soccer player David Beckham received a $5.2 million annual salary and $42 million per year in endorsements from companies such as Adidas, Coty, H&M and Samsung (Forbes, 2015). The demand for athletes to endorse products and services is mostly due to an athlete’s ability to transfer meanings and messages about a product or service to consumers (McCracken, 1989). These partnerships help companies to distinguish a product or service from those of its competitors and to influence consumer purchase decisions. In 2015, the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world grossed over $917 million in endorsements (Weber, 2015). Although many companies follow the proper channels to create formal agreements with athletes for the use of their names, likeness and goodwill, there are those that choose not to do so and that proceed without the athlete’s consent. Due to the substantial commercial advantages an athlete can provide, these unauthorized uses typically require the athletes to seek legal protection and enforcement. As such, the capacity of an athlete to engage meaningful legal protection for their interests in the commercial deployment of such image is of great significance.
