Sports Business Digest » Michael Crabtree doesn’t need football…he has Subway

Michael Crabtree doesn’t need football…he has Subway

Posted on September 28th, 2009. Written by Emmett Jones.

Meet Michael Crabtree, hold-out extraordinaire. Don’t you want him in your commercial?

San Fransisco 49ers hold-out, 2009 and 2010 first round draft pick Michael Crabtree is no longer even in the Bay Area, which goes to show the lack of progress in his contract negotiations.

Most hold-outs would probably be concerned about money issues, now that we are headed into week 4 of the regular season, but not Michael Crabtree. At least, that’s what his marketing agent is telling people.

Marketing agent Mike Ornstein says he has made NFL receiver Michael Crabtree enough money in endorsement deals that the still-unsigned first-round draft pick won’t be pressured to play football for a while.

“He has made over 750 grand in marketing dollars,” Ornstein said.

Crabtree was selected No. 10 overall by the San Francisco 49ers but has not come to terms with the team on a new contract.

Ornstein signed Crabtree last spring with independent agent Peter Miller for marketing work, and has signed deals with Subway, Jordan Brand and trading card companies Upper Deck, Topps and Panini America. (via Sports Business Daily)

Sigh. I haven’t seen this many endorsement deals for a player who wasn’t playing since “Brady Quinn was the greatest back-up of all time“. My favorite part of this article though? The point when Ornstein, despite his attempts at a positive spin on the Crabtree situation, admits that he may be able to make a few more dollars for his client…if he was actually playing.

Still, Ornstein allowed, he could have done more deals for Crabtree if he had already signed with the 49ers. “We are not able to do much marketing for him right now because he is not playing,” he said.

So…all of that being said, doesn’t it all but ensure that we won’t see Crabtree in a 49ers jersey this season? Endorsement money and subway sandwiches can probably last until the 2010 NFL draft, no?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.