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Magic Johnson Tops 'Athlete Business' Endorsement Survey

NBA legend Magic Johnson is the top-rated athlete when it comes to the business side of corporate endorsements in a survey by sports marketing agency TSE Sports & Entertainment. TSE's first annual "AB" (Athlete Buiness) ratings are calculated by surveys from 213 marketing executives who use athletes for corporate purposes. Athletes surveyed are scored in 10 business-related categories such as keynote speech, sales incentive, charity event, trade show appearance, and client meet and greet. Other popular athletes that made the list include Michael Jordan (No. 3), Tiger Woods (No. 4) and Lance Armstrong (No. 6). However, top paid athletes like Alex Rodriguez and Maria Sharapova did not make the list. "It takes a certain type of personality to be comfortable with giving a keynote speech or schmoozing with clients in a business setting. When you are interacting with executives it's nice that you can hit a baseball 500 feet, but you also have to be able to hit it off with your audience," says Robert Tuchman, CEO, TSE Sports & Entertainment.

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