Endorsement Deals: Not So Fast

Endorsement deals for professional athletes have often come after a strong athletic showing or presence has been established. These deals come in droves. Then when a public scandal erupts all of those companies start scrambling and dropping those deals as fast as they were offered.

When video revealed running back Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens punching out his fiance with a in February he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February.

Endorsement deals began to end soon after the February incident. Vertimax, a sports equipment company ended their deal with him followed by Dick’s Sporting Goods and Modell’s pulling his jerseys from stores. Nike ended their endorsement, and EA Sports said it would scrub Rice from the Madden NFL 15 video game. Rice currently has no remaining active endorsement deals.

I believe that in the times coming there will be vetting beyond a player's ability to play when it comes to endorsement deals. Companies may wish to dig into a player's personal history before signing on the line. Aligning with a player who has questionable morals could be damaging for the endorsing company. In this digital day and age when news is reported as it happens a company cannot afford themselves scandals such as these. A moral compass verified by an extensive vetting process will lessen the occurrence of scandals like those of Ray Rice.

http://fortune.com/2014/09/20/ray-rice-adrian-peterson-tiger-woods-athletes-dropped-endorsements/