Ronaldo has been selected as the cover athlete for the game for two years in a rowEA SPORTS
Cristiano Ronaldo's image is "vanishing from the website of a key sponsor," EA Sports, after a woman last week said that he raped her in '09, according to the AP. EA's "FIFA 19" video game was "released with Ronaldo as a cover star" last month. While EA has "not suspended the sponsorship, it has been distancing itself from the face of its game." The EA homepage "still uses athletes to represent NFL, NBA, NHL, UFC and golf games," but a "block of teal has replaced the spot on a banner occupied by Ronaldo until Tuesday." The top of the "FIFA 19" section of the EA site "prominently showcased Ronaldo wearing the famed black-and-white Juventus jersey until at least Sunday." By Tuesday, it had "been replaced by a picture of four men in front of a television playing the game.' At that point, a "black-and-white photo of Ronaldo still appeared on the bottom right of the site." On Friday, that was "replaced by an image" of Neymar. Now, the "only visual representation of Ronaldo on the webpage is Ronaldo on the cover of the game box with Neymar." Meanwhile, OTT service DAZN, which signed Ronaldo as an ambassador in August, on Friday said, "We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and continue to monitor the situation closely" (AP, 10/5). Read more in SBD Global.
BIG HIT FROM A PR STANDPOINT: ESPN’s Clinton Yates said the rape allegation is a "tough scrub in terms of his image from a PR standpoint.” Yates: “This is going to be a very difficult thing for him to deal with because he is everywhere. If this does not go well for him ... from an image standpoint in the next six months, it’s going to be a very hard fall for a guy who’s not only one of the greatest players of all-time, but also one of the most visible people on Earth right now.” ESPN's Ryan Smith noted sponsors like EA Sports and Nike at this moment are "not getting a lot of backlash from this despite the superstardom of Ronaldo” (“OTL,” ESPN, 10/5).
