From Mike Tyson’s enormous strength that someway oozed out of his body as an alleged abuse on his former wife to Maria Sharapova losing a whooping estimated $70 million dollars, PulseSport lists ten sports stars who lost sponsorship deals due to scandals.
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Sports stars who lost sponsorship deals due to scandals
PulseSports lists sports stars who lost their sponsorship deals due to drug, sex and murder scandals and more
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Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova admitted she failed a drug test in March 2016. The tennis star said she took the drug Meldonium prescribed by a doctor for 10 years. Meldonium was not on the ban list until the rules changed in January 1, 2016.
Nike, TAG Heuer and Porche suspended their sponsorship deals with Maria Sharapova after she failed the drug test.
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Sharapova is expected to lose in the region of $70 million dollars including royalties from these deals.
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson’s former wife Robin Givens said in 1988 that the boxer abused her. The comments from Robin Givens saw Mike Tyson lose a reported $8 to $10 million endorsement money from Pepsi. Tyson also saw a deal with Nintendo to name their boxing game “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!!” get cancelled with the game developers renaming it to “Punch-Out!!!”. The Nintendo deal was worth $750, 000 dollars.
Wayne Rooney
Manchester United player Wayne Rooney had his deal with Coco-Cola permanently ended after allegedly cheating on his pregnant wife with a prostitute in 2010.
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The England captain who was the face of Coke Zero lost $850 000 a year after the world’s largest soft drink maker cancelled their sponsorship deal.
Wayne Rooney also lost a deal with Asian beer brand Tiger but kept his deal with EA Sports and Nike.
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps, owner of the most Olympique gold in history was photographed inhaling from a marijuana pipe. The incident saw him suspended from competing for three months with US food company Kellogg failing to renew its contract with Phelps. Kellogg however refused to disclose the value of the contract.
Phelps however kept his sponsorship deals with Speedo, Visa, Omega watches and Subway.
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Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods lost $22 million in endorsement deals after Gillette, Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and Tag Heuer ended their deals.
The news that led to Woods losing these deals broke on Thanksgiving weekend when his wife smashed his car window with a golf club. The story fully unraveled weeks later to show iger Woods had cheated on his wife with scores of women.
Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong lost lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Trek Bicycle Corp, FRS and Honey Stinger after US Anti-Doping Agency released overwhelming evidence claiming Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs.
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Lance Armstrong lost around $35 million from the cancellation of the sponsorship deals.
Kobe Bryant
Basketball star Kobe Bryant was accused of rape in 2003. The sexual assault case saw Nutella and McDonald’s drop their endorsement deals with Bryant.
The charges were however dropped by authorities after Bryant reached a private settlement with the accuser.
The McDonald’s deal was worth $12 million.
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Manny Pacquiao
Nike dropped Manny Pacquiao after the boxer made controversial remarks on gay relationships saying they are “worse than animals”.
Nike Pacquiao line which generated around $5 million a year has been lost by the boxer.
Oscar Pistorius
South African star Oscar Pistorius was accused f murdering his girlfried Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Nike, Oakley and Thierry Mugler dropped their deals with sprint runner.
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Pistorius lost around a million dollars in endorsement deals.
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds, all-time home run king lost sponsorship deals with MasterCard, KFC and Charles Schwab after a steroids scandal in 2007 involving the baseball player which saw him end his career that same year.
The figure in baseball is reported to have lost $28 million a year in sponsorship contracts.
Bonds who told a jury in the 2004 that he used performance-enhancing drugs without knowing served a one-month house-arrest.
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