Posing nude comes at a price. But for WNBA player Lisa Harrison, Playboy's price wasn't high enough.
|  | | Lisa Harrison has said no to posing for Playboy. |
Harrison, 30, is a forward for the Phoenix Mercury and the winner of
Playboy.com's recent "Sexiest Babes of the WNBA" contest. After once saying
she would consider shedding her clothes for the magazine, prompting votes
for her to skyrocket in the poll's final week, Harrison said Monday she
will no longer consider the opportunity.
Playboy's offer, she said, wasn't enough.
"It's just when we went back and forth, they kept upping the money, but they
didn't quite get to where I wanted," Harrison said. "I really felt like I
needed to stick to my guns and what I originally asked for."
Harrison said Playboy's offer was "six figures," but refused to elaborate. Playboy.com spokesperson Laura Sigman also declined to disclose its final offer.
"We haven't come to a financial agreement yet," Sigman said. "The window on
her was very small, but if she's telling people 'no' now, I guess that
window will close pretty quickly."
In July, a Playboy.com official told ESPN.com that a report tabbing the offer at $500,000 was "erroneous and ridiculous." Harrison earned slightly more than the WNBA veteran minimum of $35,000 during the 2001 season, but Phoenix general manager Seth Sulka told ESPN.com that Harrison earned close to $100,000, including her Mercury community relations job during the offseason.
"It was going to be exciting if I did do it," Harrison said. "I was really
going to have to get in great shape. The travel and the attention that I was
going to get was interesting and intriguing to think about."
The Playboy.com poll winner last year, Michelle Marciniak, who like Harrison played at Tennessee, said she was offended when she won the poll last year. When asked to pose nude, Marciniak reportedly said "No way."
Fueled by the publicity of the poll, Harrison was the second-most searched
athlete on search engine Lycos from July 15-22, trailing only Anna
Kournikova. A game of H-O-R-S-E with Harrison went for $705 on a WNBA.com
auction, while a signed trading card went for $31 on eBay.
"I'm glad it's over. I could have, let's just say $500,000 in my pocket, but
I'm not going to look back on it, what-if, what-if," said Harrison, who
averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 points during the season. The Mercury finished
the season 13-19 and failed to make the playoffs.
For Tami Scott, a spokesperson for the Mercury, Harrison's decision doesn't warrant much comment. "There's nothing to say, she's not doing it," she said.
But for Harrison, it signifies the end to what became one of the biggest stories of the WNBA season.
"Now I can just go back and fit in with the crowd as opposed to people
staring at me," she said. "I guess it's back to the same old Lisa."
Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at
darren.rovell@espn.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |
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