The loss of endorsements raises red flags for Lochte who needs the sponsorship money to continue training again for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Thus, he’s been working with crisis manager Matthew Hiltzik to repair his public image and salvage any other deals.
However, according to Jonathan Bernstein—president of Bernstein Crisis Management and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management—it might all be too little too late. “Behavior like this makes sponsors, or potential sponsors, seriously question their relationship with any athlete,” he told us.
But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely over for Lochte.
“You look at other athletes who have done, certainly in their case more embarrassing things, like Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods, and they paid the price in sponsorships. Lochte has somewhat of a reputation for acting up already, so there’s a crisis risk inherent always in sponsoring a celebrity or a celebrity athlete.”
Thus, Bernstein suggests Lochte moves forward with total honesty and humbleness.
“How he deals with this is going to be more important than the effect of the incident himself,” he told E! News. “If he deals with it humbly, and honestly from this point on, it’ll be a dramatic difference than if he continues to be in denial. The public, particularly the American public, is quite quick to forgive when there appears to be true humility and transparency after a mistake has been made.”