Off the Bench: This is world's most marketable?

We tend to suffer from a severe case of myopia here in the U.S., especially when it comes to sports. When you hear the term ?Most marketable athlete,? I?ll bet your thoughts go straight to Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Tom Brady. There is, however, a big wide world out there whose residents also buy various products. And many of them don?t know or care where LeBron took his talents.

SportsPro Magazine did a survey recently to find the top 50 most marketable athletes in the world. And, surprise, only three of the top ten are from the U.S. Rory McIlroy is No. 2, Blake Griffin No. 6, and Tim Tebow comes in a disappointing No. 9. I say disappointing because I thought when it came to marketing, Tebow was infallible. One is from Taiwan ? and no, it?s not Jeremy Lin. One name, I sheepishly admit, I had to look up to discover what sport he?s associated with.

But the winner is ? Neymar. Yep, the soccer forward who plays for Santos and the Brazilian national team. In case you hadn?t heard, soccer is pretty big in Brazil ? kind of like breathing is big here. He is also the Tim Tebow of Brazil (see headband), except for, you know, that whole thing about having a child at the age of 19. Aside from huge deals with Nike and Panasonic, Neymar also has a bagful of other sponsorships. Plus, he owns 50 percent of his own rights ? and actually sold shares of himself recently.

Actually, he sold shares for percentages on his future transfer fees. This dude deserves to be No. 1.

Here?s the Top Ten:

Neymar
Rory McIlroy
Lionel Messi
Usain Bolt
Cristiano Ronaldo
Blake Griffin
Novak Djokovic
Sebastian Vettel
Tim Tebow
Yani Tseng

In case you?re like me and wondering who Sebastian Vettel is, he?s a Formula One driver (I am filled with shame). Yani Tseng is from Taiwan, and plays on the LPGA Tour. Behold the emerging financial power of China, from which an LPGA player can crack the world marketing top ten.

Here?s the rest of the top 50. It appears to be a slideshow so proceed at your own peril.

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Contact Off the Bench at Rickchand@gmail.com. Twitter: @Rickchand.

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