AT&T Inc said on Thursday it was terminating its sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods, joining the list of companies that have distanced themselves from the top golfer in the wake of a sex scandal.
The US telecommunications company is the latest corporate sponsor to back away from the world’s first billionaire athlete since he became engulfed in allegations of multiple extramarital affairs following a mysterious minor car accident outside his Florida home on Nov. 27.
AT&T said in a brief statement on Thursday: “We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future.”
Woods, believed to be the world’s wealthiest athlete, estimated to earn about US$100 million a year in endorsement deals before his troubles, confessed on Dec. 11 to “infidelity.” He announced he would take an indefinite break from golf to save his marriage with Swedish wife Elin Nordegren.
The scandal may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world’s No. 1 golfer US$5 billion to US$12 billion in losses, according to a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis.
“Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods’ stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too,” one of the professors, Victor Stango of UC Davis Graduate School of Management, said in a statement released along with the study.
Some economic analysts, however, have questioned the accuracy of the UC Davis study, although they acknowledge that Woods’ own marketable value as a subject for corporate endorsement has been badly hit by the scandal.
Sponsors who have revised their relationship with Woods include technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture Plc, which ended its endorsement, and Procter & Gamble Co’s shaving products maker Gillette, which dropped the golfer from its marketing.
Some other companies, however, like US athletic shoe maker Nike Inc, have said they are standing by the golfer.
The scandal saw a parade of more than a dozen women — from cocktail waitresses to porn stars — come forward to say they had affairs with the father of two.
Since the start of the scandal, Woods, who had previously carefully maintained a public image of a clean-living sports and family man, has kept out of sight of the media.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later