Wanted: Sidney Crosby's Signature
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
Not only did Sidney Crosby’s life change when the already popular Pittsburgh Penguins star scored the winning overtime goal in the gold medal game against the United Stateson Sunday. So too did the life of Brian Ehrenworth.
Since Crosby was 15, Ehrenworth’s Frameworth Sports Marketing has been selling Crosby’s signature to all parts of Canada and throughout the world.
But for the first time ever, Ehrenworth is trying to figure out how he is ever going to satisfy the demand for his client’s signature.
“I’m flying up to Pittsburgh next week to maybe get an hour worth of signing out of him,” Ehrenworth said. “That’s not going to fill even 10 percent of the orders I have right now.”
During tough economic times, Crosby has been the star of Ehrenworth’s business.
Crosby’s Penguins winning the Stanley Cup made Ehrenworth’s summer a great one. But since Crosby isn’t the type that wants to sign for hours on end, Ehrenworth has to get things signed when he can. And, after Sunday’s goal, a nation can’t get enough.
Ehrenworth has had a thousand orders for Crosby signed framed Team Canada jerseys for $1,500 each. One company ordered 300, intending to give them out for a reward program.
“I can’t give them what they want at one time,” Ehrenworth said. Not only can Crosby only sign so much, but Nike has momentarily sold out of jerseys.
Ehrenworth says Crosby will be signing pictures related to the goal until the rest of his life. He bases that prediction off the fact that Paul Henderson, who scored the famous goal to beat the Russians in the 1972 Summit Series, is still signing today.
“This goal now jumps ahead of that Ehrenworth said.”
Canada sure loves it's hockey. Sunday's gold medal game was the most watched television program in Canadian history.
Crosby’s endorsement future, already packed for a hockey player, will now get even brighter.
He currently has deals with Reebok and Tim Horton’s, mobile deals with Verizon in the US and Bell in Canada and a wide-ranging PepsiCo deal in both the US and Canada that covers both Frito Lay and Gatorade.
“Sidney wants quality over quantity,” said his CAA agent Pat Brisson, whose company represents 65 NHL players including Olympians Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Evgeni Malkin. “He doesn’t want to be a walking billboard.”
Crosby is however exploring doing a deal in the financial category as well as in the automobile space, Brisson said. He’s also revisiting a television company deal that he previously passed on.
“We’ll have some conversations with companies in the next couple weeks,” Brisson said. “We want to start talking before the playoffs starts because once that happens, Sidney doesn’t want to hear about it. He’s all hockey.”
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