Shaun White is a more powerful athlete than LeBron James, Lance Armstrong, Tom Brady, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Lindsey Vonn, Sidney Crosby and Derek Jeter, according to the Bloomberg Power 100 ranking of the most marketable athletes in sports. The list was made public this morning.
Only Peyton Manning was ranked ahead of the two-time Olympic gold medalist White, who rose from No. 52 to No. 2 in the magazine's annual rankings, by far the biggest jump. The list was created by an Atlanta-based sports marketing firm, CSE, using math-based analytics that combine on-field performance as well as nationwide surveys.
"We were honestly quite surprised" that White landed in second, David Newman, VP of analytics at CSE, said in a phone interview. "Until we hit the enter button, we don't know what the list is going to look like."
"Power is a unique term," Newman added, "but it's really just the completeness of an athlete. It's their ability to perform on the field and serve as a role model off it. Overall, it relates to their total endorsement potential."
To compile the rankings, Newman and his team used competition results (like halfpipe victories) and individual statistics (like touchdown passes) to pare down an initial list of more than 4,000 athletes, which included action-sports stars such as Travis Pastrana, Anthony Napolitan, Gretchen Bleiler and Ryan Sheckler, who made the Power 100 last year. After an initial cut left Newman with 260 athletes, he added survey data and endorsement income to get the final 100. White was the only action-sports representative.
Athletes were primarily compared with their peers in their sport -- i.e. White's contest wins weren't pitted against Federer's serve percentage. While White received no extra points for winning Olympic gold, he shined in the surveys, which measured four factors: awareness ("Do you recognize this person's picture and do you know their name?"), appeal ("Do you like this person?"), trust ("Would you buy this product if this guy was endorsing it?") and influence ("Are you swayed by what he says?").
Coming off his Olympic gold medal, White was recognized by 51 percent of people surveyed, compared to just 21 percent in 2009. (Tiger Woods led the way at 77 percent.)
White's "appeal" rose from 43 percent to 64 percent (Drew Brees was tops at 71 percent), and his "trust" rating came in at 13 percent (up from two percent; Phil Mickelson topped the list at 27 percent). White also jumped to 26 percent in "influence," up from 16 percent in 2009.
In essence, White's halfpipe riding helped him become a household name who's better liked, a more trusted product salesman and able to change more people's minds with what he says.
Vonn, the only other skier or snowboarder on the list, debuted at No. 13 thanks in part to 70 percent of Americans' liking her, even if only 21 percent recognize her.
Woods, meanwhile, dropped to No. 3 despite making an estimated $70 million in endorsements last year. Apparently fewer people like him now.
The full list:
1 Manning, Peyton
2 White, Shaun
3 Woods, Tiger
4 Mickelson, Phil
5 Brady, Tom
6 O'Neal, Shaquille
7 Brees, Drew
8 Armstrong, Lance
9 Pujols, Albert
10 Ohno, Apolo Anton
11 James, LeBron
12 Phelps, Michael
13 Vonn, Lindsey
14 Bryant, Kobe
15 Federer, Roger
16 Nadal, Rafael
17 Manning, Eli
18 Williams, Serena
19 Beckham, David
20 Wade, Dwyane
21 Westwood, Lee
22 Foster, Arian
23 Johnson, Jimmie
24 Pacquiao, Manny
25 Durant, Kevin
26 Jeter, Derek
27 Howard, Dwight
28 Furyk, Jim
29 Johnson, Chris
30 Halladay, Roy
31 Crosby, Sidney
32 Williams, Venus
33 Peterson, Adrian
34 Favre, Brett
35 Rodgers, Aaron
36 Jennings, Greg
37 Rivers, Philip
38 White, Roddy
39 Gordon, Jeff
40 Donovan, Landon
41 Hamilton, Josh
42 Earnhardt Jr., Dale
43 Fitzgerald, Larry
44 Cabrera, Miguel
45 Polamalu, Troy
46 McNabb, Donovan
47 Garnett, Kevin
48 Anthony, Carmelo
49 Lewis, Ray
50 Johnson, Calvin
51 Nash, Steve
52 Wainwright, Adam
53 Willis, Patrick
54 Cano, Robinson
55 Ellis, Monta
56 Lester, Jon
57 Votto, Joey
58 Stoudemire, Amare
59 Stricker, Steve
60 Gasol, Pau
61 Turner, Michael
62 Stewart, Tony
63 Johnson, Andre
64 Clijsters, Kim
65 Duncan, Tim
66 Nowitzki, Dirk
67 Howard, Ryan
68 Tomlinson, LaDainian
69 Teixeira, Mark
70 Braun, Ryan
71 Wayne, Reggie
72 Hamlin, Denny
73 Longoria, Evan
74 Charles, Jamaal
75 Ortiz, David
76 Ovechkin, Alex
77 Gonzalez, Carlos
78 Paul, Chris
79 Tulowitzki, Troy
80 Pierce, Paul
81 Rodriguez, Alex
82 Lysacek, Evan
83 Sharapova, Maria
84 Hernandez, Felix
85 Ryan, Matt
86 Stamkos, Steven
87 Donald, Luke
88 Harvick, Kevin
89 Mauer, Joe
90 Schaub, Matt
91 Wright, David
92 Jones-Drew, Maurice
93 Els, Ernie
94 Lincecum, Tim
95 Sabathia, CC
96 Martin, Mark
97 Harrison, James
98 Rondo, Rajon
99 Rose, Derrick
100 Holliday, Matt
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