EA to Make Announcement Regarding Tiger Woods

Ever since the news and compounding fallout surrounding Tiger Woods emerged one major focus of attention has been on his endorsements. Several companies have already dropped him or at the least been distancing themselves from him. EA originally was very supportive but that was before a lot of the details were found out. More recently they have wavered a bit in support though still definitive in that they had not made any decisions to make a change.

That may all be about to change. EA will be making an announcement within the next 24 hours regarding their sponsorship of Tiger Woods.

Obviously the natural reaction to this news is to assume that EA will be adjusting their relationship with Tiger Woods in some form. They would likely not have made a big deal about an announcement just to reiterate previous statements and they would want to avoid attaching their fortunes to him considering the story may take even more turns in the future.

This was the topic of an extensive article I posted in mid-December. Given the circumstances at the time it seemed increasingly likely that EA Sports would have to drop Tiger even if just for this coming year. If nothing else was to come out damaging his image and if he were to get back on the golf course and put it all behind him then EA would be in a position to bring him back on. They have been in the best position of his sponsors considering they have been able to take time to let the story play out before being forced to make a final decision.

Update: They are continuing with the rollout of Tiger Woods Online though they have not made anything clear regarding the console versions as of yet. That is where the biggest conflict lies considering the game releases for and sells the most on the family friendly Wii. It is unclear whether this news is all EA is referring to or if the full announcement is still to come.

Update #2: EA Sports president Peter Moore has posted a new blog regarding Tiger Woods Online and how Tiger will stay “on the masthead of this game”. Those words were likely chosen very carefully. Specifically referencing only “this game” leaves open the possibility of dropping him from the console versions though there is still plenty of time before they would have to announce that decision.