Tim Tebow is balancing a double life. There is Tebow the Broncos quarterback, the 24-year-old second-year NFL player trying to blend in with his teammates while deflecting the intense attention that simmers around him as he prepares to make his first start of 2011 today.
Then there is Tebow the humanitarian, a corporate pitchman and inspirational public speaker with a combination of charisma and collegiate success that has turned him into a celebrity whose fame transcends sports.
And then there is the dichotomy.
For as much as the quarterback appears humbled by his massive popularity, TebowMania is, in part, a self-created phenomenon. Tebow has surrounded himself with a tightknit inner circle of family and friends that double as business partners — Tebow Inc., if you will — who together have carefully planned his every off-field endeavor.
"It goes back, a little bit, I guess, to growing up and my parents and the way they raised me. You want to have people around you that you trust, in everything," Tebow said. "It's not about all the normal things — it's not about let's make the most money we can or being the most popular, but ultimately doing what we want to do and what's in our hearts. It's special, and it's fun."
Team Tebow is a tight network, with family at its core.
Tebow's older brother Robby is his roommate, closest friend and his de facto manager for everything away from football through the sports marketing company XV Enterprises. The company, with Tebow as its only client, is intrinsically linked with the Tim Tebow Foundation, the quarterback's charitable Christian-based organization.
The Tebow family, after selecting agent Jimmy Sexton to handle all contract matters (and some business-related deals) when his career at Florida was done, decided to forge ahead with their own marketing of Tim. It was an unconventional path for someone with Tebow's enormous success as a college player with a Heisman Trophy and two national championships.
From Tebow's perspective, keeping his business in-house, with his brother and partner Angel Gonzalez in charge, gives him a better platform to pick his off-field projects and tie them to his foundation.
"We figured that we could put together something that could handle my marketing. We could save a lot of money, but also do the things that we wanted to do," Tebow said. "Look at my endorsement deals — so much of what they do is supporting my foundation. We can structure that. If you had a different company, they're not going to structure that money."
A marketing magnet
Indeed, he has partnered locally with businesses such as Denver Mattress, with $15 for each mattress sold in May and June 2011 going to the foundation, and Groove Auto for a "Drive for Education" program for at-risk youth. But most of Tebow's marketing has been on a much grander scale.
From the time he played his last college game, in January 2010, and started his first NFL game 11 months later, Tebow signed national deals with Nike (shoes and apparel), EA Sports (video games), FRS (nutritional supplements) and Jockey (apparel). Such major deals are possible because Tebow possesses many of the traits companies are looking for in an endorser, said Stephen McDaniel, a professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in sports marketing.
"He's a good-looking, fit guy, so he's got that sex appeal, and when you listen to him, he's very down-to-earth. That's the persona," McDaniel said. "And there is also this sense of him facing adversity. Not necessarily personal adversity, but professional adversity, and still he comes across as this humble guy."
That does not appear to be the image Team Tebow tried to promote this offseason, as he was among the most visible NFL players during the lockout, in large part because of a major publicity push to promote his autobiography, "Through My Eyes," released in late May.
In addition to book signings in Colorado and Florida, there were appearances on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," guest spots on Fox News and MSBNC, and a taped appearance on the reality show "The Biggest Loser." Tebow presented an award at the ESPYs in July and was the subject of an hour-long documentary about his pre-draft journey that aired on ESPN. The documentary, "Tim Tebow: Everything in Between" will be released on DVD next month. It was filmed and produced by Chase Heavener, the son of one of Tebow's father's oldest friends.
"As far as access goes, he trusted us because we were friends," Heavener said. "We were probably the only people who could have done what we did because we were friends. That was the bottom line."
With all the publicity in recent months, it's no wonder that news he unseated Kyle Orton as the Broncos' starting quarterback drew a crowd of more than 60 media members to Dove Valley and has dominated cable sports news, newspaper coverage and sports- talk radio chatter the past two weeks.
All Tim, all the time
Here in Denver and among NFL fans, it seems there cannot be enough Tebow.
From the moment he signed with the Broncos, he's had one of the top-selling jerseys in the NFL. Nationally, though, there is some evidence of Tebow Fatigue. According to Henry Schafer, executive vice president of The Q Scores Company, which collects data to gauge the popularity and marketability of celebrities, Tebow's positive Q score dropped from 22 in February — an extremely high score on par with Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, the past two Super Bowl MVPs — to 18 a month ago. That's still a high score, Schafer said, but a noticeable decline.
Tebow's negative Q score, in turn, has increased since he left college from a 22 to 27. (By comparison, No. 1 overall draft pick Cam Newton had a negative score of 42, and the average athlete rates 28). A Q score is a scale the marketing industry uses to gauge a celebrity's popularity and likeability.
"He stirs emotions, no question about it. But he can make it work to his advantage. He'll get noticed, for better or for worse," Schafer said. "There seems to be a love to dislike him, people love to criticize him. He could change a lot of people's minds if he does well for Denver."
And he could become even more marketable, Schafer said.
"Peyton Manning is the high-water mark," Schafer said. "If (Tebow) pulls it off on the field, he can start approaching that kind of level."
