Market Value Judgment

Kobe Bryant is waiting to see if allegations of sexual assault will result in criminal charges filed against him. And while he waits, so do corporations that might have been willing to pay him millions of dollars to endorse their products.

Bryant recently signed a five-year, $45-million contract with Nike. Said a shoe company executive who asked not to be identified, “No one right now is willing to believe it’s true. They are concerned, but they don’t believe it’s true.”

“Kobe was like a clean glass of water,” said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center in Eugene, Ore. “There was nothing to knock the guy for. But all it takes is one drop of food coloring to change the color of water. Any kind of negative press can cause some level of concern. This situation has certainly tainted the waters.

“He had so much momentum going for him. There was the Nike signing. He was going to test free agency next year. But now, it all comes to a hard stop.

“Athletes have survived brushes with the law before. There are certain incidents where fans feel for the athlete, like when he gets into a car after a night in a bar and puts himself in harm’s way. But this could cause a backlash not only with fans, but corporations as well.

“The last thing Nike wants is for its consumer base to think it is condoning this type of activity. The bottom line is, Kobe could be forced to walk away from tens of millions of dollars on the table. He has had an image that a lot of corporations love to associate with their product. He is clean, worldly, intelligent, and even speaks a foreign language. So few athletes are held in such high regard anymore. The fans want to believe there are still clean-cut athletes out there and maybe there’s a false sense of hope there because everybody has skeletons in their closet. But there is a lot to be frustrated with here because this is a guy who had it all and may have put himself in a position to throw it all away.”

Perception may be the key, said Roy Adler, a professor of marketing at Pepperdine.

“With endorsements,” he said, “there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty. If there is even a whiff of scandal and the image is tarnished, [corporations feel] there are plenty of other people who could be spokesmen. Some people believe where there is smoke, there is fire. Some people will believe these allegations are true no matter what happens.”

Said David Carter of the Sports Business Group in Los Angeles: “What’s important right now is for everyone to keep their powder dry.

“People are sometimes very quick to jump on the bandwagon and convict everybody of everything. But in this case, because Kobe is so deep-rooted as a positive figure, I think people are not only giving him the benefit of the doubt, but he is emerging as a very sympathetic figure.

“Because those law enforcement officers [in a Colorado news conference Monday] sounded like the Keystone Cops, I think that could play very well for Kobe in the short term. If in the next few days no charges are filed, those positive feelings toward Kobe might even grow. He might get a little bump.

“But ultimately, it will boil down to, a, whether charges are filed and, b, the severity of those charges. If they are not that severe, Kobe certainly can recover. Look at Michael Jordan. There were stories about his gambling and indiscretions outside his marriage. People can recover.

“But sexual assault is out of bounds for everybody. It’s a weird dynamic. Right now, he’s fine because of his international star power. But if in fact serious charges are brought and he is convicted of those charges, his downfall will be even greater because his star status is so high. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this story.