Wealthy Bag Lady Blog

Sponsors Would Have Dropped Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi would have been a pariah in his own sport if his drug-taking exploits had been made public while he was playing, it was claimed last night.

Leading sponsorship experts said that Agassi’s new status as a revered philanthropist would protect him from rejection by the sponsors who now support his charitable causes. 

But they were shocked by the revelation that Agassi took crystal methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug, and then lied to the tennis authorities.

If that had become public knowledge at the time, they believe he would have been thrown out of tennis so fast there would have been scorch marks on the lawns of Wimbledon. 

“There is no question he would have been banned and rejected by every sponsor he had,” Dominic Curran, director at Synergy, the sport sponsorship consultancy, said. “It was not just a question of taking performance-enhancing drugs or a recreational drug but a substance that has horrific consequences. 

“Any sponsor would have dropped Agassi like a hot potato and could not countenance being associated with an offense and a lie on that scale.” Agassi became one of the most sought-after sportsmen in the world, racking up more than $100 million in endorsements during his career — putting him in the same league as figures such as Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher and Roger Federer. 

Michael Phelps, the eight-times gold medal-winner at the Beijing Olympics last year, discovered just how fast sponsors can react when Kellogg, the food company, refused to renew its $1 million endorsement deal with him after he was pictured appearing to smoke cannabis through a glass pipe, known as a bong, in January. 

But Agassi, with Steffi Graf, his wife and winner of 22 grand-slam singles titles, have devoted themselves to their charitable foundation, which has raised more than $40 million to educate underprivileged children. His deal with Longines, the Swiss luxury watchmaker, has also been used to raise money for charity. 

Deals like that will go on if and when Agassi’s image is rehabilitated, in spite of his drug-taking confessions from a difficult past.

What Happened to Civility?

Did you hear about Kanye West running up to the stage while poor Taylor Swift was accepting the award, saying that the Beyonce had the best video?

Poor Taylor Swift, eyes welling up with tears, looked broken-hearted. Beyonce, wanted nothing to do with this drunken fool.

What about congressman Joe Wilson who yelled, "You lie!" during Barack Obama's speech?

With extremely stressful lives, people are teetering on the edge of emotional breakdowns and crossing boundaries of acceptable behavior more than ever, but the professional entrepreneurs aren't going to take it.

Etiquette experts are experiencing a resurgence in their businesses.Yes, etiquette is making a comeback because people aren't putting up with boorish behavior anymore.

With the Internet, these kinds of rude outbursts live on forever, so when you feel anger, just take a breath and smile. We should all remember what our parents and teachers told us us about putting ourselves in the other person's shoes, having empathy and being kind to each other.