Nike: Tiger Affairs a Minor 'Blip'

Other sponsors are backing away from Tiger Woods, but Nike plans to stick with the beleaguered golf champ. The sportsman's indiscretions will be seen as "a minor blip" in the context of his career, Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight tells SportsBusiness Journal. The scandal is simply "part of the game" of corporate endorsements, Knight says, admitting that the company's checking failed to turn up Woods' multiple infidelities.

"He was one we checked out and he came out clean, and I think he’s been really great," said Knight. "When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now." A spokesman for another major Woods sponsor, Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer, also says the firm will stand by its man.
(More Tiger Woods infidelity stories.)