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The timeless design of a Los Angeles Lakers jersey may soon become a throw back if some NBA owners get their way. At a Board of Governors meeting on April 12 owners contemplated placing sponsor logos on player uniforms, a move that could help regain the $300 million in losses Commissioner David Stern predicted for last season. However, the decision to place corporate logos on player uniforms leaves the League stuck between wanting to make easy revenue and possibly ostracizing a loyal fan base by seemingly selling the jerseys on players’ backs.

According to Business Week, companies would pay up to $7.5 million per year to place their logos on uniforms. In 2011 Horizon Media predicted the annual value of the television exposure of the space across an NBA jersey would range from $4.1 million for a team like the L.A. Lakers to $300,000 for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The practice may sound like another example of extreme corporate greed taking over but two very successful sports leagues have already taken on the practice. NASCAR embraces the idea by fully dressing drivers and their cars in a patchwork of logos. Similarly, Europe’s Premier League soccer team Manchester United has a jersey sponsorship deal with AON that’s worth $120 million over four years.

“In the sports world this is not new—especially in soccer, the world’s largest most watched sport,” reveals Keith Reed, Senior Sports Business Editor at ESPN The Magazine. “The NBA’s expenses increase each year therefore it has to find new ways to bring in new revenue.”

The New York Red Bulls started the trend in Major League Soccer in 2006 by becoming a standing testament to the popular energy drink. According to The New York Times, 15 of MLS’s 19 teams now have corporate sponsors. In the NBA’s sister league, the WNBA, five of the 12 teams have sponsorship logos with prominent placement. In fact, the placements are so prominent that they overpower the team’s actual logo to the point that the Phoenix Mercury looks more like the Phoenix Lifelock.

Basketball purists scoff at the idea of players mimicking walking billboards because it over commercializes the sport. The iconic color scheme, look and feel of a uniform is considered hallowed ground in American sports culture. Whenever teams tweak the look of their uniforms, it’s usually met with opposition from diehard fans. That’s likely why none of the four major American leagues—NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB—have taken the plunge in the sponsorship pool just yet.

Still, the potential for a new revenue stream is alluring to owners, who already lost income due to a shortened season due to the recent NBA lockout. While the average basketball fan may disagree with logo placement on uniforms, business experts see it as the way of the future. Unlike commercials or arena sideline banner ads, sponsored jerseys would be present during the entire game. “You can’t buy that many minutes of commercial in primetime. It would be too long boring,” says Reed. “If you put your name on the right team your company would receive an extreme amount of coverage.”

No matter how tempting the idea, other experts believe the move is far from becoming a reality any time soon. “I happen to think uni ads are still a long way off—at least a decade, and maybe a lot longer,” Paul Lukas said in his Uni Watch blog. “Not all marketing is appropriate marketing. And just because you can sell something that doesn’t necessarily mean you should sell it.”

(Image: Getty)

Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s 13-year NBA run with the Los Angeles Lakers was just the beginning for his longstanding career off the court. The 6’9”, 220-pound point guard—who won five NBA championships and a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona—now juggles a plethora of business ventures from health centers to urban development projects. As the Chief Executive Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises, the Lansing, Michigan native has been able to provide jobs as well as goods and services to minorities throughout the country with his lofty endeavors. The 52-year-old has also transformed the face of HIV since revealing his contraction of the disease more than 20 years ago.

Once the basketball hall-of-famer realized his potential beyond the game, he created a plan for life off the court: build wealth, develop a series of lucrative partnerships and pass on the benefits for future generations. “Our mindset needs to change when we think about material things,” he told Black Enterprise in a 2010 interview. “We want to be hip and cool; we want to have 20 cars. Young people look up to people like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, but their role models should be people like Ken Chenault. They don’t realize he’s much more powerful and will make more money than them for years because he won’t have to retire early like pro athletes do.” In light of Johnson’s recent minority stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, BlackEnterprise.com figured now was the time to Decode the business of Magic.

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Magic & Cookie Johnson (Image: Getty)

BIG & SMALL SCREEN MAGIC

In 1994 the former NBA player created a chain of movie theaters in minority neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area. Seeing the need for first-rate movie multiplexes in Black neighborhoods, Johnson Development Corporation later partnered with Sony-Loews Theaters to open additional locations in Atlanta, Cleveland and Houston. AMC Theaters purchased Sony-Loews in 2006, renaming the entrepreneur’s multiplexes to AMC Magic Johnson Theaters. Since giving up his management role, most theater locations have since closed with only two remaining—one in Harlem and the other in Largo, Maryland.

In February 2012, Magic Johnson became one of the few minorities to acquire his own television channel through Xfinity (formerly Comcast). Named Aspire, the channel is geared towards African-American and families will offer movies, documentaries, short films, music, comedy and inspirational programs. “Aspire will be a network that encourages and challenges African-Americans to reach for their dreams and will appeal to all generations,” said Johnson about the channel, which is set to launch this summer. “Aspire will celebrate our heritage, our groundbreaking achievements and the fearless talent that has shaped American culture.”

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TALKING A GOOD GAME

Although the exuberant, competitive athlete-turned-businessman retired in 1991, he has never been far from the game… or the Lakers. During the Lakers’ 1993–94 season, Johnson replaced head coach Randy Pfund, and helped the team win the first five games of that season. Soon after, when they began to lose, Johnson announced he wouldn’t coach again. “I want to go home,” he told the Associated Press in 1993. “It’s never been my dream to coach. I want to own, to be a businessman. You’ve got to chase your dreams.”

Johnson got his wish in June 1994, when he stopped coaching the West Coast franchise, but simultaneously became the first minority shareholder of the Lakers, purchasing for a reported 10 percent of the team for $10 million. He went back to play one more season with the California-based team during the 1995-96 season, then retired for good after losing to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 1996 playoffs. Johnson eventually joined TNT as an NBA analyst for seven year, and ultimately landed a multi-year agreement with ESPN as a studio analyst on NBA Countdown in October 2008.

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Magic Johnson during his HIV+ announcement conference (Image: Getty)

HIV ACTIVISM

After letting the world know he was HIV positive during a 1991 press conference, Johnson immediately went into action by starting a campaign and the Magic Johnson Foundation. Since launching in 1991, MJF has expanded to host a scholarship that pays up to $5,000 in tuition; help families become home owners; annually provides food to more than 10,000 families in need and offer technologically-savvy learning centers in urban communities. The foundation has three major partners that work with HIV/AIDS relief: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest healthcare provider for HIV/AIDS, providing services to over 1,200 individuals living with HIV/AIDS via five AHF Magic Johnson clinics; Abbott, a worldwide healthcare company devoted to helping establish health management and finding new medicines, who will offer health education to minority communities through a multi-year plan; and Aetna, a national health insurance company, who launched a 20-week “nutrition and exercise competition between fourth-and-fifth graders at five elementary schools in the Houston Independent School District.” Overall, Johnson’s programs help around 250,000 people every year, and they only continue to grow.

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Johnson with MLB star Barry Bonds (Image: Getty)

A TRUE TEAM PLAYER

In October 2010, Johnson sold his 4.5 percent minority interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, giving up an estimated $27 million of the team’s total worth. A partial owner since 1994, it was rumored that he sold his stake to look into buying other NBA franchises. However, it was recently revealed that Johnson had actually set his sights on baseball—specifically the L.A. Dodgers. Already an investor for the Dayton Dragons, who sold out 844 consecutive games (an ongoing record for a North American professional sports franchise), Johnson became the first athlete to buy stock in a team of a different sport. Johnson, alongside Stan Kasten purchased the L.A. Dodgers for a “record $2 billion.”

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Johnson with Starbucks Chief Executive Officer, Howard Schultz (Image: Getty)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Knowing the importance of daily nutrition, the former Lakers’ owner partnered with several companies to put his imprint on the food service industry. In 1998 Johnson teamed up with Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc. to establish Magic Johnson’s T.G.I. Friday’s in Ladera, CA. He also teamed up with Sodexo, Inc., a food service company, in 2006 to establish SodexoMAGIC, which provides catering, food distribution and environmental maintenance to a client list of nearly a dozen companies.  During that same year, Johnson worked with Starbucks’ Chief Executive Officer, Howard Schultz to acquire 50% of the coffee shop company, but sold 105 coffeehouse franchises back to the company in 2010 for a reported $75 million.

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(Image: Getty)

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Health is of vital importance to the former professional athlete, which is why he “jumped at the chance” to develop more than a dozen 24 Hour Fitness Magic Johnson Sports Clubs. The gyms are based in areas where he has an established presence with his other ventures in California and Texas, in cities such as San Diego, Oakland, Compton and Arlington. In 2001, Magic joined together with Canyon Capital Realty Advisors—one of the country’s largest private real estate companies—to redevelop properties in urban communities. Fused together, the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund as it’s called, recently signed on as the sponsoring agency to develop One Santa Fe, a $160 million mixed-use project under construction in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District. According to MarketWatch, “One Santa Fe will include 438 apartments and 78,620 square feet of office and retail space, along with nearly 50,000 square feet of public outdoor space.”

What does it mean for Magic to make this deal in Los Angeles?

I have to guess if it weren’t the Dodgers he probably wouldn’t be doing this deal. Him owning the Dodgers is as close to a homecoming as you can get for Magic. He spent the height of his fame and celebrity in Los Angles and they welcome him like a son and a native in that town. He represents an excellence in Los Angles that not even Kobe Bryant can match. Magic is everything to the fans there.

What are the pros of having Magic own the Los Angeles Dodgers?

Right off the bat, the level of credibility for the team’s ownership has increased. Before Magic, the fans had no confidence in the McCourts and little confidence in a team that had shown poor financial management coming into this sale. As iconic of a figure as Magic is in business, sports and in Los Angeles, he is like a hero coming in to save the day by lending the ownership instant credibility. Along with his leadership comes community support and most importantly sponsorship. His presence will undoubtedly change the perception of the team and boost morale in the locker room.

Being that Magic is only a minority owner in this deal, what type of influence do you think he will have in the day-to-day?

If you know anything about his work you know Magic will have a significant influence on the way this team is run; maybe not on the field but certainly in the front office. He is not a baseball guy but he is a very astute sports guy and that’s where his expertise will lie in this ownership group.

Also, a lot of running a team is what you are doing to sell sponsorships and when it is time to sell, Magic will be their ace in the hole. They have this firepower they didn’t have before. I’d be surprised if the Dodgers didn’t use Magic in every pitch for sales or corporate box seats.

What are your thoughts on the Dodgers’ $2 billion price tag, the largest in sports history since the $1.47 billion deal for English Premiere League’s Manchester United in 2005?

I’m shocked at the astronomical price because it far exceeds the previous largest price spent for a team by more than a half billion dollars. Soccer is popular worldwide and one of its most notable teams didn’t fetch a price more than an American MLB team that will never have world play. The sticker shock on the price also lies in the fact that the Dodgers weren’t doing well on the field, this goes all the way back to Manny Ramirez‘s contract and them still not getting any value out of it. Then there’s the front office, which was in dismay with the McCourt divorce. This team went from total shambles both on the field and in the front office to such a high price tag that it’s a total shock. It makes you wonder what the plans are going forward.

Although it’s sports, at the heart of every team it’s business and the Guggenheim Partners have to have some sort of business plan to make this work. In business, you don’t buy something for more money than you think you can make from it. Magic and his group have to do something that can bring them enough revenue to keep the team financially successful and keep it competitive in order to make it worth more that the $2.15 billion they spent.

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In your personal opinion, will Magic and the Guggenheim Partners regret this purchase in a few years? Do you think they can recoup on their investment?

You have to trust that they have a plan in place where they are going to draw revenue from so that team will be worth more than it its now. Look at the New England Patriots. People thought Bob Kraft was a fool for the amount of money he paid for a team that was in shambles. They needed a new stadium, the fan base was waning and some thought they should leave town. He came in and he did what most people thought was overpay for the team at $172 million, the highest price for a team in American sports history back then. Today, the Patriots are one of the most valuable franchises in the world.

So looking at that, Magic won’t regret this purchase as long as his team is able to make the purchase worth wild. I think the television deal rights will be significant in this deal for the Dodgers. If the new ownership can sell more tickets and increase the TV revenue it could bring in a significant amount of money. We could see the Dodgers become the first team in the country worth $3 billion dollars.

What are the cons to Magic purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers?

It’s extraordinarily risky when you are paying more for an asset than anyone has ever paid before. You are risking the potential for your investment to be worth less than you paid and in comparison to any other MLB team. On the flip side, this purchase is great for every other team in MLB, including the New York Mets, who are looking to sell. A team can go into a marketplace and say, “The Dodgers got this much, so I can get at least $1 billion for my team.”

Another issue is, you can create an unrealistic expectation in the locker room and fan base that this team is going to be significantly better than before Magic bought the team. Fans and players could think that somehow Magic’s Midas touch is going to extend from basketball to TV ratings to on the field performance [overnight]. If the team stinks and doesn’t perform well there is potential for backlash where people say, “Hey, Magic, you were supposed to make us better. What happened?”

For example, you don’t have to look any further than the failing Charlotte Bobcats and their owner Michael Jordan. Jordan doesn’t have a very good track record as an owner in the NBA even though he is the greatest player in the game. He really has no business owning a team. Magic, similar to Jordan, runs the risk of tarnishing his reputation by creating this huge expectation of success. If the Dodgers don’t get any better it will be a huge reflection on Magic.

Is there any sort of significance to Magic, a Black man, taking ownership of the same team that integrated Major League Baseball with Jackie Robinson in 1947?

It is a little iconoclastic to have Magic behind the team that was the first to integrate baseball. What’s more important is that Magic is known to have a significant number of Blacks involved in all his deals. He employs Black MBA’s, marketers, and communication staff along with other positions throughout his organization. He also always makes it a point to do business with Blacks and in Black neighborhoods. I would expect he would make it a point to do the same with the Dodgers. If he doesn’t, I would also expect people to make some noise about it because he has made it part of his reputation.

It’s also possible Magic could change the trend of the decreasing Black audience in baseball. His presence alongside MLB’s initiative to bring baseball back to the inner city could make a difference. I don’t know how realistic it is to say that having Magic as an owner will make kids in Watts, Calif. have more interest in baseball but the possibility is there.

Lastly, you have to look at the fact that we have very few Black men, minorities or women who even own a minority stake in a team. Magic not only owns a minority stake of this team, he is being seen as the face of this deal. Also, unlike Jordan who bought a team in his sport and is very active in evaluating talent, Magic has never played baseball and is doing this strictly as a business deal. He is breaking new ground.

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As the Final Four draws closer and NBA teams look to solidify playoff positioning with the same scrappiness their younger counterparts use to cut down the nets with, it’s clear that the game of basketball is alive and well despite pay to play scandals and “super teams.” As the game has grown into a global phenomenon – aided by players like Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Serge Ibaka and Andrew Bogut, the game’s reach has transcended domestic urban playgrounds and barns where rickety hoops cling to a bent, 10-foot existences. In total, over 38 different countries and territories are represented in the NBA. The game is safe. The sport is growing. Yet, as this growth continues to occur, one particular demographic continues to shrink. What has happened to the White, American basketball players of yesteryear who took on superstar status as opposed to super-sub stat lines?

Simply put. They’re gone. According to research done by ESPN’s Outside the Lines back in 2009, 71.9% of NBA players are African American, 18.3% are international and 9.9% are White Americans—meaning there is an average of one per team—with Memphis, Detroit, Los Angeles (Clippers) and Washington having zero. Of those other 26 teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves are the only franchises that carry more than two White American players on their current roster. Aside from Kevin Love and David Lee, that crop of players that makes up that nearly 10 percent is hardly considered to be at the elite level. Consider this: until Kevin Love came in the league there hadn’t been a White American NBA All-Star since Brad Miller in 2004. You’d have to go all the way back to John Stockton in 1997 to find a starter.

It seems that the 60’s-early 90’s produced the “great White hopes,” while 2000 and beyond has produced the “10 day contract nopes.” The rules of basketball have hardly changed since James Naismith picked up that peach basket in Springfield, Massachusetts. The collegiate landscape offers up plenty of white, American stars. Then what gives? Why aren’t these same collegiate court savants becoming stars? There are 312 college basketball teams at the Division 1 level comprised of 4,000 players—sifted and chewed threw from a high school class every year boasting more than 540,000 aspiring MJ’s, LeBron’s and Kobe’s. According to College Times, these athletes then have a 24,550-1 odds of ever going pro—while chances of being struck by lightning in one’s lifetime is 10,000-1. The only luck involved in making the pros involves harnessing ability and steering clear of devastating injury.

It’s clear that White, American players are progressing through the high school and collegiate ranks—perpetually finding homes at top tier programs like Kansas, Duke and UNC on a yearly basis. Names in the past like Laettner, Redick, Morrison and most recently Fredette all were perennial All-Americans who excelled collegiately and joined the pro ranks with limited to average impact. In fact, the entire All-American team since the early 90’s is riddled with White American players who never entered the star designation in the pros (Montross, Reeves, Van Horn, LaFrentz, Szczerbiak, Murphy, Dickau, Collison Hansbrough). You’d have to go as far back as 1985 with Mark Price to find a collegiate player besides John Stockton who came to the pros and made multiple All-Star teams. While these players all find eight-plus year careers in the league, it’s as “specialists” not stars. The NBA still looks for role players—they just want athleticism as the skill-set over spot up shooters and big boned, corn fed seven-footers who will give a team six fouls a night.

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New Orleans Saints TE Jimmy Graham

Most of the public is only recently becoming aware of the story of Jimmy Graham. I find this very unfortunate, but true. Graham is a tight end for the New Orleans Saints football team. As of this writing, he is the leading tight end in the NFL in terms of receptions and touchdowns. But most importantly, he is proving to be a true “baller” in the game of life!

Born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, this 24-year-old has scored big both on and off the field. Just imagine, at the age of 11, being put in a parent’s car and then being dropped off at an orphanage.

Well, unfortunately for Graham, he doesn’t have to imagine—this was his life. Graham recounts the story of him being in the backseat of a van with his housemates from the orphanage and being beaten until his eyes were swollen shut. He called his mother and asked her to pick him up and she simply hung up the phone. Ouch!

After bouncing around from house to house, he was eventually taken into the home of his future adoptive mother, Becky Vinson during his high school years.

According to Graham, he and his biological mother are “slowly rebuilding a relationship, but it’s moving very slowly… I told her that I forgive her, but I won’t forget.”

Graham is a better man than me. I’m very impressed with the way he presents himself on TV. But, his attitude towards his mother goes to the type of character he has. Isn’t it a shame that more people are aware of Beyoncé’s pregnancy than Graham’s story?

Graham, who now stands 6’6” and 260 pounds, earned a basketball scholarship to attend the University of Miami (commonly referred to as “The U”). He played football in his last year of school (along with four years of basketball) and graduated in 2009 with a double major in marketing and management. He then enrolled in graduate school so he could play one year of football. During the 2010 NFL draft, Graham was picked by the New Orleans Saints in the third round (95th overall pick) and signed to a four year, $ 2.5 million contract.

There’s a lot more to this story, but because of space constraints, there is not enough room to write about everything; but just Google his name and you can read all the details of this fascinating person (or watch ESPN’s profile below). So, the next time you hear or read a negative story about a professional athlete, just think about Michael Vick or Jimmy Graham. Most professional athletes are good, upstanding citizens. Don’t allow the media to cloud your views because of a few bad apples.

Jimmy Graham’s story makes you cry, makes you angry, and makes you joyful. You can’t help but cry when you think of the traumatic experience he suffered at the age of 11. You can’t help but be angry at how an adult and a mother could subject her own child to such a life-altering situation. But, you can’t help but be joyful about how an 11-year-old, traumatized kid could develop into such a wonderful, marvelous person!

This story is not about sports, it’s about life. We all have faced or will face our own traumatic situation(s) in our life. How we respond will determine the quality of our life.
There are not many people who I really want to meet in life, but Jimmy Graham is definitely one. I want to know how he went from failing grades, to a basketball scholarship to a very prominent university (with a double major in marketing and management), finished in four years, then enrolled in graduate school so he could play one year of football, and then to excel on the professional level in the sport. All this while overcoming the trauma of his youth.

Jimmy Graham, your life is truly a touchdown. Whether you know it or not, you have already won the Super Bowl of life!

Watch ESPN’s profile of Jimmy Graham below:

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm. He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine,  Freedom’s Journal Magazine and U.S. Africa Magazine.

Two Women of Power: Sage Steele & Marion Jones

• One-On-One with ESPN’s Sage Steele

Check out BlackEnterprise.com host Tai Beauchamp as she get’s the scoop from ESPN’s Sage Steele about her interview with Olympic track and field star turned WNBA guard, Marion Jones. Visit blackenterprise.com/wps/videos/ for the exclusive interview.

• Matchmaker Paul Brunson from One Degree From Me at 2011 Women of Power Summit

What good is being successful in your career if you can’t share the fruits of your labor with someone? BlackEnterprise.com host Tai Beauchamp picked the brain of professional matchmaker to find out what’s the No. 1 roadblock for Women of Power when it comes to romantic relationships and why a little work goes a long way, even in love. Visit blackenterprise.com/wps/videos/ to watch the one-on-one interview.

• Live from the Women of Power BE Digital Lounge

BlackEnterprise.com host Tai Beauchamp talks with Women of Power panelists Tina Wells, founder and chief-executive-officer of Buzz Marketing Group, and Dr. Janet Taylor, a consumer health strategist and certified life coach, at BE Digital Lounge hosted by AT&T on how vital the conference is to our community, its impact and why they keep coming back each year. Visit blackenterprise.com/wps/videos for the exclusive interview.

• Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie Shares An Insightful Message at Keynote Breakfast

Day 3 of Black Enterprise’s Women of Power Summit began with very profound and inspirational words from none other than Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. “Your brilliance may be diminished by racism, sexism and classism,” said McKenzie, at the motivational keynote breakfast. “Don’t use that as your excuse, but your motivation.” What a way to start off the day. Next on the day’s agenda was leadership sessions on reinvention, reclaiming your power, image control and putting your emotions in check at the office.

• Want to be up to speed on what’s taking place in Orlando? Visit UPDATE: Day 2 – Women of Power 2011.
• Have a question for someone appearing at the conference? Just log on to blackenterprise.com/wps and we’ll be sure to answer the question live!