Yahoo Finance Ryan Lochte has no sponsors left
When the week began, American swimmer Ryan Lochte still had four active sponsors that pay to endorse him. By 4 p.m. EST, he had zero.
A week of feverish coverage followed the swimmer’s dramatic story about getting robbed at gunpoint in Rio on the morning of August 14. While specific details of what really happened are still emerging, video footage shows that Lochte (who has acknowledged he was intoxicated at the time) tore down a sign over a gas station in Rio and urinated on a wall. Lochte conducted an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer over the weekend in which he apologized, appeared to cry, and said he “over-exaggerated” what took place.
In the past, Lochte had big endorsement deals with brands like Gatorade, Nissan, and Marriott, but all of those had run their course before the Rio Olympics. At the start of the Olympics, he had four active sponsors, amounting to an estimated $750,000 to $1 million in annual fees for Lochte: Speedo; Gentle Laser Hair Removal; Airweave; and Ralph Lauren, as part of a Team USA sponsorship.
Speedo, which entered into its current 10-year contract with Lochte in 2006, was the first to cut ties with Lochte. In a statement, the company said: “While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for. We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience.”
Speedo managed to spin a little bit of good PR for itself out of the bad news by saying it would take $50,000 of the remaining fee that would have gone to Lochte, and donate it to Save The Children, specifically for kids in Brazil.
As often happens when an athlete is involved in a public scandal, once one sponsor drops, the rest fall like dominoes.
Shortly after Speedo, Ralph Lauren said it would not renew Lochte’s contract. That deal was only around the Olympics anyway (Polo Ralph Lauren is a clothing sponsor of Team USA), but that distinction will likely be lost in the coverage of all the dropped deals. “Ralph Lauren’s endorsement agreement with Ryan Lochte was specifically in support of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the company will not be renewing his contract,” the statement said.
The third remaining sponsor, of four, was Gentle Hair Removal, for which Lochte had shot multiple advertisements. After Speedo and Ralph Lauren dropped, Gentle Hair Removal parent company Syneron-Candela put out this statement: “Syneron-Candela will be ending its partnership with Ryan Lochte. We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners. We wish Ryan well on his future endeavors and thank him for the time he spent supporting our brand.” As of the time of writing, Gentle Hair Removal hadn’t yet removed Lochte from its homepage.
His last remaining sponsor, Airweave, a Japanese company that makes a “highly resilient bedding topper” to go above a mattress, did not drop him at first. Its CEO, Motokuni Takaoka, initially said that Airweave would stick by the athlete, because Takaoka respected his athletic skill.
“I respect the athletic performance of Ryan, and as long as he is a respectable athlete, he will remain a US ambassador for Airweave as long as our partnership agreement remains effective,” he said in a statement before the Olympics had ended. “Our focus is on supporting Team USA, and our hope is people will remain focused on cheering on the athletes who still have events to compete in.”
Airweave changed its tune late on Monday, tweeting out from its US account, at 4:02 p.m. EST, “We have made the decision to end our partnership with Ryan Lochte.”
airweave's official statement regarding sponsorship of Ryan Lochte. pic.twitter.com/pFGzMSxnTR
— airweave USA (@airweaveUSA) August 22, 2016
This post was updated at 4:16 EST on August 22.
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Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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