Patrick Mahomes may become the NFL's first $200 million player, but he can expect to earn double that amount in endorsements, according to a sports marketing expert. The quarterback further enhanced his blossoming reputation by steering the Kansas City Chiefs to the franchise's first Super Bowl title in 50 years. His performance in Kansas City's 31-20 win over San Francisco 49ers were enough to earn Super Bowl 54 MVP honors. After a trip to Disney World and an open-top bus parade to celebrate the team's success, Mahomes now finds himself playing a waiting game as he looks ahead to the offseason. DIAMOND: Mahomes' new contract likely to prevent a Chiefs dynasty A first-round pick by the Chiefs in 2017, he is moving into the last year of his rookie deal. There is no doubt that his employers will pay him; the question is more about how much he gets. The 24-year-old is expected to sign the biggest deal in league history, yet the eye-catching number — whatever it ends up being in terms of overall value, and guaranteed money — is not the only chance Mahomes will have to cash in on his superstardom. Asked if Mahomes could match his record-breaking new contract in off-field deals, Darrin Duber-Smith, a lecturer in marketing at Metropolitan State University in Denver, told Stats Perform: "For sure." MORE: Projecting Mahomes' NBA-like second contract "The thing about endorsement potential is success is only one of a few important variables in whether an endorser becomes wildly financially successful," Duber-Smith said. "Pat Mahomes is likeable," he added. "Success helps, but likeability is a bigger factor. Longevity is a big issue, attractiveness is a big issue, as is success. Those are sort of the four biggest variables for endorsement success, in my opinion. "Tom Brady has longevity and has had success, and is good-looking too, but he doesn't have that likeability. "Mahomes doesn't have the longevity aspect yet, of course. We don't know about that because an injury can derail someone's career very quickly. "I would compare him to Peyton Manning, though. He even has more endorsement potential than Manning, who is one of the most likeable and also one of the highest-grossing celebrity endorsers ever." Of coors Chiefs Kingdom showed out! The party never ends. pic.twitter.com/MrsHAldn51 — Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) February 6, 2020 While Manning is still earning in retirement, Mahomes is part of a new generation of quarterbacks. Alongside Deshaun Watson and reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, he is a superstar who will attract sponsors, not just with his play on the field but also his personality. His profile is aided by a change in the marketing landscape, according to Duber-Smith. Where once teams were the main attraction, now it is the players who have the pulling power. "It's all about what we call 'star power' in the sports marketing world," he said. "We can thank 15 or 20 years of fantasy football for that. "Star power drives almost everything — people will go out and watch really poor teams, so long as there are one or two great stars. Teams can also make millions of dollars despite not winning for decades, just so long as the star power is there. "The NFL has rallied this year, and I think that's down to a couple of things. First, they are paying a lot more attention to which games they are showing on television, so that really helps, but we also have Generation Z coming in. "They are different. With the millennials, we had a malaise for a period of time. Now, though, we have in this batch of new quarterbacks, probably the most exciting bunch we've possibly ever seen. "It's all about quality. The Premier League is rated No. 1 in the world, and the way you look at that is through player salaries. The thing about Americans is — and you're going to see this when the XFL fails — they don't like to watch poor sports. "They like to watch the best in the world, which explains why the Premier League ratings are so much higher than our own MLS. We don't care where it comes from — if it's high quality, we will watch it." There is little doubt about Mahomes' quality. Kansas City has drafted and developed a franchise QB who should be worth every penny of what it ends up paying him. As one of the faces in the NFL, he should expect to be in high demand.
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