*sighs at you nitpicking the terms opinion and perspective.
Those are the same things essentially. You're debating semantics now.
Even if an athlete is marketed towards fans, it doesn't make the athlete a product. You can't purchase the athlete for instance, like a company or team would.
I get what you mean, but it still doesn't make the athletes products in any way. Yes, from your perspective/opinion, they are. But that's your perspective/opinion of an athlete.
The factual truth is that the athlete is an employee of a team/company/corporation/etc. They are used to sell the fans products, but not to sell themselves to the fans directly. Cards and other merch is just that, merchandise. You could say that the athlete becomes a brand name in a way, but even that is a stretch of opinions and perspectives. :{