Other than Nike?

One of the golf magazines reported that he's making $22 million less in endorsements this year compared to last, but the number they had him making is still astounding. So many jumped ship that I would have thought his endorsement earnings would be down by a lot more than they are.

I am guessing that the ones that are still with him are going to stick around unless something with the economy forces them out of it. If they stuck with him through what has happened so far, why would they bail now? At this point, the majority of the bad press is done, unless something else comes out like a list of children that he fathered with different women or that he likes to hit baby seals with bats or something.

I think as soon as the CONTRACTS run out, the rest will dump him. Nike really painted themselves into a corner with the whole VR thing. It's not like a basketball shoe where you can quickly dump production and inventories.

Air Jordan? What if all this was done by big Mike?

the greatest basketball player to come from my hometown is not innocent. If we remember he cheated like a mad man when he was married and he had a huge divorce and gave up alot of money for the same reason. Woods and Jordan have alot of similarities with how they addressed the media, dominated the competition, and cheated on their wives.

Are you referring to Brooklyn or Wilmington? I'm gona guess Wilmington.

The profit margin on a pair of basketball sneakers is much greater than that of a set of irons. Having to dump a bunch of sneakers in a 3rd world country is much easier. Putting TW/VR on their irons was a bad move. It was also a bad move that likely made the rest of their staffers feel like also-rans to make them play the "big guy's" driver and irons. Bad move all around. They'll learn from it.

And yes, Jordan did all of this too with gambling problems on top of it all. It was just a few years removed when the media was not THIS voracious.

This was the same thought I had when they first came out with that line. Saw all these Nike staffers having to play stuff that says "Victory Red" on them, and they aren't even the ones that wear red on Sundays. Pretty lame. Feel bad for them. Although to keep with the basketball shoes analogy, there were a LOT of basketball players wearing Air Jordans when he was playing. Maybe a little different, but not so much.

Dave

Yeah, I don't recall a lot of the pros wearing Jordans. There were so many b-ball shoe lines back in the day when the popularity was at an all-time high. Had the "Flight" line with Nike as well that a lot of them wore. (Given the choice, like the VR line or something else equally good without Tiger's branding, I think the Nike staffers would choose the non-VR route, which the basketball players did as well. Who wants to wear someone else's shoes?) I think the Jordans became actually more prevalent in the NBA after his retirement and the creation of a distinct Jordan-only line/brand. (And it spilled into other sports as well.) A $180 pair of sneakers is a lot easier to "dump" in the minds of consumers than an $800 set of irons too. You feel more "stuck" with the latter. Given golf is also the "gentleman's" game, it's more damning to have those clubs in your bag when you pull up to the course than it is talking trash on the public playground playing b-ball. The whole VR thing backfired on so many levels.

I think everybody that signs with Nike understands the pecking order. They're not with Nike to get respect from the company, they're with Nike because at the time they needed a contract Nike offered the most money. If you have to get bent over once in a while, that's the price of doing business.

I also don't think there's any way on earth that Nike will dump Tiger when this contract is up. No matter how tawdry his private life he still sells more gear than anyone else on tour. Maybe if they could replace him with somebody that had more clout as a pitchman they would. Until then though, they're going to stay in bed with Tiger.

That is bad on the retail front, though. Suppose someone likes Nike and Nike golf, but is not a Tiger fan? Right there, they are limiting their appeal by branding everything after Tiger's "image." I think the last thing a company should do is eliminate a good percentage of people right off the bat due to branding or image. That's before the scandal even. I saw a lot more Nike gear when it was just badged with the swoosh. If their staffers start to develop their own winning ways/identity, being stuck behind TW in the pecking order also limits their marketing angles.

We chose not to sponsor him this year....

Due to the sex or the fact that he's playing so bad?