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"Companies that become sports sponsors, whether of athletes, teams or events, want to associate with greatness," he said. "We love good stories, and Michael Phelps is one of the best, so he is a natural attraction for companies."

Ironically, the firms who may get the biggest boost from Phelps could be the ones who signed him up before Beijing and his eight golds. Visa capitalized quickly by releasing a "Go World" ad after Phelps captured his 10th Olympic gold medal overall, and Speedo has likely received more than a million dollars in publicity from its stunt to give Phelps $1 million if he tied Mark Spitz' 1972 mark of seven gold medals.

"For Phelps to have staying power his agent needs to work overtime to place Michael on the various shows (Letterman, Leno, and so on) while, at the same time, not saturating the market with Phelps," he pointed out. "It is a tough balancing act."