Dustin Johnson has a career spanning over a decade and a half. He has firmly established himself as one of the best golfers of his generation. Moreover, Johnson won numerous accolades, including multiple major championships, and has held the coveted position of the world’s number-one-ranked golfer.
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And through it all, he has been supported by multiple sponsors. The Royal Bank of Canada parted ways with the golfer when he defected to LIV Golf, accepting the $125 million offer. Moreover, now Dustin’s long-time partner has decided to move on as well, which is termed a mutual agreement.
Dustin Johnson breaks up a longtime partnership
Adidas Golf president, Jeff Lienhart, in a statement to ESPN announced that the company will no longer sponsor the 38-year-old. Moreover, he also said, this move was mutually decided. Johnson has been promoting the brand for over 15 years, which is the same period he established himself among the legends of golf with his performance.
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Adding to that, Adidas has also decided not to renew its deal with Sergio Garcia. The 2017 Masters Champion is the second big name at LIV Golf, to lose Adidas as a sponsor. Also, sources close to Dustin have revealed the reason behind this move. The former PGA Tour player wants to establish the brand and franchise value of their own team, the 4Aces, which wouldn’t be possible with Adidas.
Furthermore, this is a significant part of the LIV Golf League’s sponsorship model, which involves selling logo space on shirts. Moreover, Dustin needs a clean break from Adidas to establish his team’s brand identity and is grateful to the company for letting him out of the deal.
Although this has been termed as an amicable separation, golf fans have some serious doubts about it. They feel that the German brand dropped the former no.1 because he is not as visible since leaving the PGA Tour. Furthermore, it also speculated that the deal ended because brands don’t want to be associated with LIV Golf.
Pretty good signal that manufacturers/apparel companies are ditching LIV. Same with Cobra & Bryson. One of Norman's big pitches to players was apparently this franchising thing, and that seems completely dead at the moment.
No eyeballs and doesn't move product. Not surprising.
It was only a matter of time. Very very little exposure for these companies due to them not playing much. As the contracts end their relationships will also. Most won't have contracts renewed. The young guns on the PGA Tour are about to bank. They will pick up these sponsors👏👏
Not playing since last fall, being on the CW with about a third of your season taped delayed, and needing to wear uniforms without your input seems like a waste of time and money for any clothing company to sponsor.
They aren’t playing events where they are promoting the gear. They have team uniforms. It is the same for club manufacturers. They have a set # of appearances they need to make to promote their gear, they aren’t meeting that.
I would assume these companies do these sponsorship deals to be on TV, if DJ isn't playing much and the ratings are bad they will move to somebody else to get more visibility. It's the right business move.
Adidas is probably grateful that DJ wanted out of his contract. I can’t imagine they were too happy with him stepping away from the limelight of professional golf by leaving the PGA Tour for LIV.
I highly doubt they “mutually” parted ways. More like he went to liv he’s no longer on tv or winning anything relevant so it’s not worth it for us to pay him money anymore to wear our clothes.
They want people to see their product being used. No one sees a liv event. So why pay for zero eyeballs?
However, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said that the emergence of the breakaway faction is just the evolution of the sport. Moreover, he said that the company focuses more on partnering with the best player rather than the league they will be playing at.
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Do you think this might be bad news for LIV Golf? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below.