Sport

Woods and ATT
When Tiger Woods was dropped by ATT on the eve of the New Year as its spokesman, ATT did not pay Woods any of the huge amounts of money it owed the golf player this was confirmed by a companys official. Furthermore, ATT did not go to court in order to end its ties with Woods. The first sponsor who responded to the numerous reports concerning the infidelities of Woods was Accenture. The company responded by bringing an end the deals it had with the golf player although there was still some time left before the contract was over. However, Accentures spokesman failed to reveal whether the company paid Woods any monies for the remaining part of the contract (SANDOMIR, January 20, 2010).

The deals may not have been done away with had the golf player and his IMG agent Mark Steinberg, not concurred to have the two sponsors released. While responding to questions via e-mail, Steinberg refused to have any discussions concerning Woods deals. At the same time, IMG refused to avail its executives, making it quite clear that IMG had already made a decision on the fate of Woods. Woods has faced a sex scandal which has greatly tarnished his name and at the same time exposed his private life extensively. While it was right for IMG to sever its contracts with Woods in order to protect its image, the manner in which it terminated them is very questionable. This is because Woods was not given a chance to defend himself over the allegations and again it is not clear whether or not the company paid the monies it owed Woods (SANDOMIR, January 20, 2010).

Phil de Picciotto, who is the president of personalities and athletes at the sports agency of Octagon, said that Woods and IMG perhaps did not wish to force unfriendly sponsors to continue, particularly when it was quite evident that such sponsors were less willing to market him through their product and service categories. The president further said that Woods would not battle with IMG since it would not add any value to him and in fact it would make the matter even worse (SANDOMIR, January 20, 2010).

The power of Woods in the market before the eruption of the scandal provided him with a lot of protection from most of his sponsors. They could therefore rarely terminate any of his contracts on mere allegations and they could probably do so only when the golfer could have been convicted for felonies that are concerning moral turpitude. However, it is quite difficult to draw a conclusion at this point since most of the details pertaining Woods contracts are yet to be disclosed (SANDOMIR, January 20, 2010).

If Accenture and ATT sued Woods in order to release him from the deals they had with him, such a move would have compelled the golfer into a testimony that could have been very embarrassing concerning his infidelities. Up to date, Woods has responded to the allegations of the sex scandal only via statements he posts on the Web site. Most of the deals that Woods has with IMG require the latter to pay either all or some of the amount it owes Woods. Someone who is quite familiar with the process of making decisions at IMG, but who did not want to be mentioned told New York Times that it is possible that although IMG has already terminated its contracts with Woods to pay him the full amount of money it owes him. However, it is highly possible that IMG will seek to have the matter dealt with outside the courts so as to ensure that it does not embarrass Woods (SANDOMIR, January 20, 2010).