Johns Hopkins Lacrosse Millionaire Hits Wall Street to Find Fame

According to a Sports & Fitness Industry Association survey, there were about 1.5 million lacrosse players in the U.S. last year, up 37 percent from 2008, the largest jump in team sports. In that same time, baseball participation fell almost 13 percent and tackle football dropped about 18 percent.

Helped by friends and classmates now on Wall Street, lacrosse player Paul Rabil, the Johns Hopkins University graduate, is building his brand amid a surge of interest in his sport.

“As the game gets bigger, Paul’s the guy who’s going to continue to rise with it,” said Sol Kumin, chief operating officer at SAC Capital who is a former Hopkins lacrosse player and Rabil’s friend.

His future as a pitchman is directly tied to the sport’s growth on television, said David Gross, commissioner of Major League Lacrosse, an eight-team outdoor league where Rabil -- a member of the Boston Cannons -- is a two-time Most Valuable Player.

Gross in 2007 negotiated a 10-year contract with ESPN, which this year will show 25 games on its networks. The CBS Sports Network will show 20.

Producers for the ABC show “The Bachelor,” which featured former National Football League quarterback Jesse Palmer, have inquired about using Major League Lacrosse players. Palmer parlayed his reality TV fame into a college football analyst job at ESPN, like ABC a unit of Walt Disney Co.

Phelps Neighbor

Rabil, who lives in Canton, Maryland, a block from Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, is far from the highest American endorsement earners. Golfer Tiger Woods reaped about $54 million last year, according to Sports Illustrated. LeBron James of the Miami Heat received $33 million, while quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots took home $10 million.

Woods is ranked No. 12 on The Marketing Arm’s Davie-Brown Index, which measures U.S. awareness of about 2,800 celebrities. James, a two-time National Basketball Association MVP, is No. 373, while Brady, a two-time NFL MVP, is No. 382. Rabil didn’t make the list.

Shawn Bryant, a former NBA executive who specialized in player marketing, said it will be hard for Rabil to approach the popularity of snowboarder Shaun White, who benefits from the Olympics and X Games exposure.

“He certainly has a tough road to that kind of breakout success,” Bryant said. He added that the sport’s influential followers, including Sean Bratches, ESPN’s executive vice president of sales & marketing and a member of the Rochester Institute of Technology Sports Hall of Fame for lacrosse, may help Rabil gain attention.

Linda Holliday via Bloomberg

New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, wearing a shirt from the Rabil collection, said "marketing isn't my thing, but I have no problem aligning myself with Paul Rabil on anything." Belichick played lacrosse at Wesleyan University.

Rabil, who majored in political science and minored in entrepreneurship and management, took out his mobile phone to display a photograph from another well-known booster.

Shot at an airport in Costa Rica, it shows three-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick of the Patriots wearing a shirt from the Rabil collection, with a man in the background in a Rabil jersey.

“Marketing isn’t my thing, but I have no problem aligning myself with Paul Rabil on anything,” Belichick, who played lacrosse at Wesleyan University and whose daughter, Amanda, is an assistant for the Ohio State women’s team, said in an interview.