Is It In The Name, Or In The Game? Can News Affect Firm Value? A Case For Athletes Sponsored By Nike, Inc.

Abstract

Until recently, little of the celebrity endorsement literature has focused on how the activities of an athlete affect a company’s value. Those that do, tend to focus on the impact of one star, such as Tiger Woods in golf, on a variety of companies. This paper adopts the behavioral finance viewpoint and examines the impact of news relating to various sport stars’ performance, both on and off the field, on the sponsoring/endorsing firm’s value. This research analyzes the impact across seven sports under Nike Inc.’s endorsement umbrella. In doing so, this study finds that news pertaining to the very best “athletic stars” in their respective sports do not directly affect Nike’s stock price. In fact, the only sport having a significant impact on stock price is professional golf. Surprisingly, news relating to basketball, the sport generating one the largest endorsement expenses for Nike, Inc., did not have a significant influence on stock price. Such results lead the authors to conclude that 1) the success of those sports stars under Nike’s endorsement umbrella does not directly add value to the firm, and 2) other factors may play a role in influencing investor behavior, to include airtime, public perception, and the size of the market, itself.