Reggie Bush's Marketability After the NFL Draft

Sometimes, a sure thing is not always certain. Such a case occured in the 2006 NFL Draft, in which the consensus favorite to be the #1 selection - Reggie Bush, tailback from the University of Southern California - ended up not being the sure thing, as he was not selected by the Houston Texans, the team with the first selection, but rather the New Orleans Saints, a franchise that has the task of rebuilding along with the city that it calls home.

Houston was seen to be a better fit for a talent like Bush, not necessarily in terms of the playing or coaching style of the team, but rather as a large enough market to allow a player of his caliber to reach the exposure and marketability that Bush potentially has over the course of career. Houston is the United States' 11th largest television market, as compared to New Orleans, whose rank of 43rd is the lowest, meaning New Orleans is the smallest NFL media market in terms of size.

Even before the draft, Bush agreed to endorsement deals that totalled over 1 million dollars, as he signed with Adidas sportswear; Subway restaurants; Icelink, a jewelery consortium; and Hummer, the General Motors SUV brand. However, despite these deals, Bush has a number of hurdles to leap in order to reach the potential marketability that he has as an explosive, high talent player.

Typically, quarterbacks are the players who are the highest paid endorsers among NFL players. The league's highest paid endorser, for instance, is Peyton Manning, who earns nearly 6 million dollars a year. Yet, of the players who earn over a million dollars per year in endorsements, there are no tailbacks - at least, there have bee no tailbacks before Bush to reach that plateau.

Given that New Orleans' economy is weakened due to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the small size of the market in terms of media exposure, and the limited league marketing of the Saints themselves (the team only has 2 Monday Night or Sunday Night national telecasts in 2006), the money that Bush could attain in a larger market and with more exposure nationally may not exist where he is now.

Some people in the marketing world believe that Bush can transcend the market he is in and become a large media presence, mainly due to his talent and his personality. Others, however, believe that his reaching a mass audience will be a tougher road, likely causing him to have to take many more local and regional deals before he can break into mainstream national marketing.

Do you believe that being in New Orleans, as opposed to some of the markets of other teams in the NFL such as Houston, will affect Bush's earning ability as a product endorser? Or, will his presence in New Orleans help create a larger market there, both for himself and the Saints franchise?