Forbes released their most influential athletes in sports in 2013 and topping the list was the teamless Tim Tebow. While Tim Tebow might not provide much help on the field, Forbes is claiming the quarterback can help market your NFL team off the field. Forbes.com based their selections on information gathered by Nielsen and E-Poll surveys among U.S. fans. Despite not starting a game last year and not having a team this year, Tebow still had 29% of respondents claiming that he is “influential.” The results surprised Stephen Master, senior vice president of Sports for Nielsen, “For a backup quarterback to be talked about so much is incredible.”
The rest of the list features several sports stars that are not even playing right now. Retired Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps finished second with 25% believing him to be influential. Jamaican Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt was third with 23%. Derek Jeter is fourth on the list with 22%, despite being out until at least the All Star break with an ankle injury. Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow’s replacement on the Denver Broncos, was fifth with 22%.
Rounding out the top ten were Drew Brees, Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas,
Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, and David Beckham. Based on Tebow having such a higher score than the other superior quarterbacks and LeBron having such a low score, I can only assume that the surveys were only done in Jacksonville and Cleveland.
[Forbes]
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