SBD: Phelps to No Longer Sponsored by Speedo

According to Sports Business Daily writer Tripp Mickle, Michael Phelps’ endorsement with the world’s largest swimwear brand Speedo that ended at the end of 2013 has not been renewed and the two sides have parted ways.

In the story, Speedo commented that “When Speedo signed Michael to his first endorsement deal at age 15, becoming his first-ever sponsor, we believed that he had the potential to change the sport of swimming forever. He has certainly achieved that, becoming undeniably the most successful Olympian of all time. … Though the partnership with Michael has ended, he will always be a part of Speedo’s history and we wish him well in the future.”

This raises the question of whose suit, exactly, Phelps will be wearing when he hits the water this weekend at the Mesa Grand Prix. It has been long speculated that he might be working with Baltimore-based Under Armour, who has sponsored Phelps’ ‘dryland’ clothing for the last several years, to launch a performance swimwear line as well. Thus far, however, Under Armour does not have a FINA-approved suit for the year 2014.

Of course, if a company really wanted to keep a suit under wraps, there would be enough loopholes to do it without revealing it through FINA’s public list. That includes setting up another company under whose name the suit could be submitted for approval before transferring branding to the new company upon launch.

At any rate, regardless of whose suit Phelps wears (or if he signs a new agreement at all), it will be an interesting experiment at how much pull the post-comeback Phelps has upon the market. Of course, his level of success will have an impact on sales, and much more so upon sales within the swimming niche where his post-comeback results will be scrutinized more closely than they would to, for example, the Subway audience.

Update: in his pre-Grand Prix press conference, Phelps referred to himself as a ‘free agent’ for suit deals.