Company man
By REUBEN FRANK
phillyBurbs.com
Nonstop road trips.
Not enough time with his family. Fifteen-hour workdays.
Welcome to Donovan McNabb's world.
His offseason world.
The last few months have been just as hectic as the regular season for McNabb. His personality off the field, his performance on the field and his squeaky-clean image have combined to make McNabb one of the most marketable athletes in professional sports.
"Having a good image and being somebody that [companies] want to use, that means a lot to me," McNabb said. "The travel is tough and being away from my family is tough, but I enjoy the endorsements and appearances, meeting people I wouldn't get to meet, seeing places I wouldn't get to see. I make sure I have a lot of fun with it."
McNabb has lucrative deals with Reebok, Lincoln Financial, Campbell's, Pepsi, EA Sports, Hershey, Visa and the International Dairy Foods Association.
He does charity work on behalf of NFL Youth Football and J.C. Penney's "Take a Player to School" program and was a guest presenter at the ESPY Awards.
He also oversees the Donovan McNabb Foundation to raise money to fight diabetes and is national spokesman for the American Diabetes Association.
From early July, when he begins focusing full-time on football, until late January or early February, when the season ends, McNabb is wrapped up with his primary job, playing quarterback for the Eagles. That leaves about four months to squeeze in all his other obligations.
And they are squeezed.
"I'm everywhere," McNabb said with a laugh in a recent interview. "My frequent flier miles are outstanding right now.
"It can get a little crazy. I make sure I'm home and spend enough time with my family. That's my No. 1 priority during the offseason. I try to mix it up. If I'm away for a week, then I make sure I'm home the next week. If I can, I take the family with me, although that's not always possible. You can't keep dragging a baby all over the country. The toughest thing is going to be when my daughter is older and keeps begging me, 'Daddy, take me with you.' "
McNabb, wife Raquel Nurse and daughter Alexis - who is 22 months old - are based in the Phoenix area during the offseason.
But McNabb has flown more than 40,000 miles since the Super Bowl ended to fulfill all his various business obligations, most notably appearances as cover boy for EA Sports' Madden 2006 video game.
"You're home for three days, they fly you off to Toronto for a weekend, then to New York for a few days, then back home for four days, then to L.A. - it's kind of like playing baseball and the road trips those guys have. Three days in one city, three days in another city, then maybe you're home for a week.
"The toughest thing about all the travel is watching what you eat and making sure you get a workout in. At the hotel, I'll go down to the little gym and get on the treadmill with all the lawyers and businessmen, just to get some kind of workout in while I'm away from home. You have to take care of that stuff."
Three years ago, McNabb signed a 12-year contract extension worth $108,812,724, a deal that at the time made him the highest-paid player in NFL history. He earns an average of $9.068 million per year on the field and about another $5 million in endorsements.
But McNabb is careful not to overdo it. He turns down more than he accepts and makes sure he spends quality time with his family, both in Arizona and on vacation.
"I turn down a lot, including some stuff people would be really surprised to hear," he said. "You have to. You can't take everything. It's tough because they're offering you a lot of money, but it would be too much. You have to be able to say no."
Much of the offseason hoopla was centered around McNabb's association with Madden 2006, the best-selling video game in the United States McNabb's selection to appear on the cover was the strongest sign yet that he's entered the sports marketing elite.
"He's as widespread as anybody [in the NFL] right now, right there with Peyton [Manning] and Michael [Vick]," said Nova Lanktree, who handles endorsements for McNabb as vice president of player marketing at CSMG Sports outside Chicago. "The thing about Donovan is that he's so genuine. There's a real strength and beauty in not faking it, and when somebody is really authentic, people sense that and are drawn to it.
"Donovan feels truly blessed with his life. There's just something whole and right with him, and that comes across in everything he does."
Whether he's playing football for the Eagles, promoting Madden 2006 or doing charity work, one thing remains the same.
The image.
"That's very important to me and very important to my family," he said. "It means a lot to me that it's always a positive image. I'm just a guy who goes through life laughing and joking. Wherever people see me - in a commercial or in the Super Bowl - I just want to get across that I'm just like them."
As busy as McNabb's offseason was, everything slowed down a few weeks ago. McNabb's fundamental rule is that when it's time to prepare for football, nothing gets in the way.
McNabb is scheduled to report to Eagles training camp at Lehigh University in Bethlehem a week from Monday. The Eagles this year will be seeking a sixth straight playoff berth, a fifth straight appearance in the NFC Championship Game and a second straight trip to the Super Bowl.
"I don't do anything in July," he said. "I took two weeks totally off after the Super Bowl and then I shut it all down at the end of June. Now, it's time to play football."
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