LONDON — Missy Franklin’s father said she will swim collegiately in 2013-14 unless some “horrendous amount of money” in endorsements forces the Centennial family to re-evaluate.
If his idea of “horrendous” is $1 million to $5 million in endorsement money, the Franklins may have to sit down this month for a long talk once they get back from London.
A sports marketing expert and two agents who deal with landing endorsements for athletes say that if Franklin eschews her amateurism, she could be worth $1 million to $5 million a year. That’s a big gap and representative of the uncertainty in marketing a phenom such as Franklin, who at age 17 won five Olympic medals at the London Games, including four gold.
“She’s got a great smile,” said Andrew Stroth, a Chicago-based sports attorney specializing in endorsement deals. “Her story’s fantastic. She seems like an all-American girl, a young lady who really cares about people inside and outside the pool.
“If Missy Franklin decided to pursue Madison Avenue and corporate America, she could make $2 million to $5 million if her advisers have a strategic plan.”
Franklin has been labeled the new face of American women’s swimming ever since she won three gold medals last summer at the world championships. She topped that at the Olympics. She set a world record in the 200- meter backstroke and helped Team USA set a world record Saturday in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
The immediate future is clear for Franklin. This fall she will be in her senior year at Regis Jesuit High. After graduation, she said she wants to swim in college. She takes her first recruiting trip Aug. 31 to California. Her top three collegiate choices, as of now, are Cal, Southern California and Georgia.
“I’ll be surprised if (the family) doesn’t take a serious look at dropping amateurism,” said A.J. Maestes, a sports marketing expert and president of Navigate Research in Chicago. “The next four years will be the most she’ll ever make in her life. She’s so young and is a potential medalist in (the 2016 Olympics in) Rio. She has four great years of exposure.
“I honestly think she could make $2 million a year for four years. It’s not crazy to think she’ll get a four-, five- or six-year deal for $2 million a year.”
Added Robert Tuchman, president of Skylight Entertainment in New York, which specializes in marketing athletes, “She seems to be in the $1 million, $2 million range. (What) it comes down to at the end of the day (is) how good is her agent going out there and negotiating? There’s no real comparison in the endorsement game.
“Certain athletes get tons and others don’t.”
The agents shouldn’t count on it. After Franklin won her fourth gold medal Saturday and set her second world record with the medley relay, her father, Dick Franklin, was asked if $1 million to $5 million would be enough for her to reconsider.
“No,” he said. “How can you change a little girl’s dream?”
In London, the Franklins have been engulfed by prospective agents and endorsers who would love to represent Missy. Dick Franklin has a history of negotiating contracts as a former corporate executive with Head and Reebok but is adhering to his daughter’s wishes to accept a collegiate swimming scholarship.
“If she had a whole lot of corporate responsibilities — got to be here, got to be there, got to go for a shoot — it wouldn’t help her swimming,” he said. “It kind of lowers the fun and raises the work.”
The agents don’t necessarly disagree with that decision, figuring the big money will be there for years to come, if Missy maintains her elite status.
“In terms of swimming and enjoying herself, it’d be a shame if she didn’t have that in her life,” Tuchman said. “I’ve seen other Olympians and they want some normalcy. You can never get those years back. For her, she’s probably going to swim to 25.”
Her sport will help her make that decision. Swimmers don’t get injured much. And, if she’s peaking three years from now going into the Rio Olympics, the demand for her as a spokeswoman will be greater than ever.
One option is swimming collegiately for two years before turning pro while pursuing her degree and preparing for the Rio Games. Dick Franklin said he expects endorsement deals would total in the $300,000 to $500,000 range if his daughter went that route.
“He’s exactly right for a normal medalist,” Maestes said. “She’s just not normal.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnhendersondp