Nike, Beats Could Be Only the First of Sponsors to Cut Ties With Deshaun Watson

Yesterday brought further developments in the Deshaun Watson sexual assault and harassment cases as two of his 22 accusers came forward in a press conference to describe the nature of the allegations and the trauma they endured as a result. As of today, the lawsuits remain civil rather than criminal, although Watson is the subject of an open investigation by the Houston Police Department after a report was filed against the quarterback last Friday.

To this point, Watson has not suffered any consequences of these allegations outside damage to his public image. That changed on Wednesday morning as Nike suspended their endorsement deal with Watson and Beats dropped him entirely.

In terms of national sponsorships, Watson currently has a deal with Rolex, while he has several local endorsement deals in the Houston area.

These feel like only the first dominoes to fall. This situation is not going to go away and if both Nike and Beats decided having his name attached to the brand was too damaging at this point, others will follow the same line of thinking.

UPDATE: Reliant Energy, the company with the naming rights to the Texans stadium, has ended their relationship with Watson.