Tiger Woods in new sponsorship loss as AT&T drops deal

Trampas

AT&T says it will no longer sponsor top golfer Tiger Woods, who announced earlier this month that he would take an indefinite break from the sport.

The company joins Accenture and Gillette in dropping support for the golfer after he admitted to "infidelity" to his wife.

AT&T's logo appeared on the golfer's bag. The company did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods.

AT&T said it would continue to sponsor the AT&T National PGA event in July.

In a terse statement, AT&T said: "We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future."

The deal had been billed as a "multi-year" agreement when it was announced at the beginning of 2009.

Severed ties

The golfer became the first sportsman to earn more than $1bn from sponsorship deals and endorsements.

But a whole list of them have now loosened or severed their ties with him.

Apart from consulting firm Accenture and razor maker Gillette, the watchmaker Tag Heuer has scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.

It is not clear how much these deals separately brought in. AT&T also has not said how much its contract was worth.

A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Tiger Woods affair to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.

Soul searching

Tiger Woods announced in December that he would take a break from his sport, after allegations from a string of women that they had sexual relations with him.

He said at the time: "After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."

Woods is married with two children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8436514.stm

ant043

here we go again.

mike65

I said this would happen in that After Hours thread on Woods the day this broke but I was poo-pooed. US corporate sponsers are very conservative and run from "sleaze"

randomer

mike65 wrote: »

I said this would happen in that After Hours thread on Woods the day this broke but I was poo-pooed. US corporate sponsers are very conservative and run from "sleaze"

I think they run from golfers who no longer play golf!

When Woods returns to golf and once again takes the game by storm, the sponsors will return.

fatal

Once this thing blows over and provided Woods plays as well as he has,they'll be back

durkadurka

I think once he does the tearful interview with oprah and comes back the sponsors will be back. If they dont come back then others will.

ratzy

I think some of these sponsos are not sponsoring him anymore because its just an easy excuse for them not to sponsor him because of the economic downturn and they can just say its because of his recent press not there bank accounts.

soundsham

durkadurka wrote: »

I think once he does the tearful interview with oprah and comes back the sponsors will be back. If they dont come back then others will.

+1
golf is a business
and whenever he's back he will get more coverage than the rest of the field put together