At the moment he won’t. And nor should he. Right now, these rumours about his personal life are just that, rumours only until proven otherwise.
In any case, its not always easy for a sponsor to walk away from a contract. They have to execute an escape clause which usually involves the athlete bringing the sponsor into disrepute.
So what are the common escape clauses in personal endorsements? Here are the major ones.
- Being charged or convicted of a crime.
- A positive test to drugs.
- Breaking the laws of the sporting body (in this case the PGA).
- Engaging in conduct that is obscene, indecent, immoral or unprofessional.
- Doing anything that restricts the ability of the brand to promote the athlete or diminishes the commercial benefits provided to the sponsor.
- Becoming of unsound mind therefore unable to fulfil sponsorship duties.
- Not maintaining your elitist position in your sport eg. losing your PGA Tour card.
There are a myriad of others clauses but these are the most common in any contract.
If you know anything about legal contracts, the aim of the game is to make things so black and white in writing that there can be no dispute about a breach.
Tiger would have a strong case against any sponsor who wanted to pull the plug over this news story. There are simply too many grey areas for a sponsor to successfully argue a breach.
Tags: PGA, Tiger Woods
The list of Tiger’s sponsors aren’t exactly those aiming at the family market say for example Disney or McDonalds, his sponsors are more aimed at the male market such as Gilette, EA Sports, Gatorade and obviously Nike. If it was an average athlete that they didnt feel they would lose much with then sure he may lose a sponsor here or there but these particular companies have products branded after him, so I agree with you there wouldn’t be many wanting to pull the pin.
Thanks for the comment Anthony. I agree, I can’t see the market refusing to buy the products Tiger endorses. But at the same time let’s not forget who buys razors for HER husband and who buys EA xmas presents for HER kids. wink wink
Well the situation kind of took off since you posted this. Gatorade got out first, now AT&T and Gillette are pulling back the air time of their commercials with him. My next thought as someone who enjoys his video game by EA Sports and them paying him apx. $20m per year for his rights, how they move forward with a game that is due out in the next 6 months?
Either way, I think with Shane Warne in Australia and in the US with Michael Vick, Michael Jordan, and A-Rod, the public will forgive and forget over time and before you know it we’ll be talking about his comeback to golf.
You’re right Anthony. I posted this after one girl, now there are thirteen. With the amount of negative press and Tiger’s admission to infidelity, sponsors have every right to execute escape clauses relating to “bringing a sponsor into disrepute.”
With regards to EA, they could use another athlete, however Phil Mickelson Golf doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Remember, six months is a long time in sport, by then this story will have come full circle and be laid to rest. By then it will be all about the comeback to golf. I’d expect EA to time their launch with his comeback. In any case, the EA launch will get a lot of free media coverage which must be hugely attractive from a PR standpoint.