EA stands by Tiger Woods said no other golfer can replace him.

[theRepublic]

mike_intellivision said:

theRepublic said:

NJ5 said:

theRepublic said:

I'll add to this that if he takes too much time off he is going to have problems with his sponsors.

To tell the truth I didn't read much about this whole Tiger Woods crap (don't really care about golf), but I just found this on google news:

http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/10513486/We'll-never-look-at-Tiger-the-same-way-again

Just the other day, a survey conducted by Argyle Executive Forum showed that 37 percent of marketers polled would "suspend" a relationship with Woods and 25 percent would "cancel" it. Only 22 percent voted for maintaining a relationship.

 

So far there hasn't been much backlash from his actual sponsors.  However, if he takes an extended leave from golf, I guarantee that that his sponsors would be more pissed off at that than this controversy.

Gillette announced it plans to phase out Tiger Woods in ads while he takes time off. It did not say it was going to cut ties with him. Also, Gaterade annouced it was cancelling the Tiger-branded drink (the situation made a business decision easier).

Admittedly, the sports game by EA may be the easiest sponsorship to keep.  So far, only Nike (a sporting goods company) has said it publically it is standing with Tiger, despite efforts to get all the sponsors to make that statement. Essentially, it appeaers the others may have wanted Tiger for his good public perception -- which is now in tatters.

Mike from Morgantown

I just heard about the Gillette announcement today.

The Gatorade announcement has been in the works for three months, although the timing of it is highly suspicious.