The news of Michael Vick’s alleged involvement with a dog-fighting business on his property has been on the headlines now for quite awhile.
I just read an article today where Upper Deck is removing any of their products with his picture or name on them, and earlier this week Nike and Reebok suspended their contract with Vick without pay.
Now my personal opinion is that Vick may not have been involved directly with the dog-fighting, but I can’t believe he had no clue what was going on at his property. I also believe that you should be held responsible to some degree for what takes place on your property unless you can confirm that you had been present on the property on various occasions and didn’t see anything illegal taking place.
However, with all of that it still seems like Vick is being seriously punished financially with all of this before he’s even had a chance for a legal judgement to be made against him. I’m not sure that’s really fair for someone to have to deal with, but I also believe a company has the right to make decisions like that regarding their spokesperson.
It should be a wake-up call for athletes to be a little more vigilant in their efforts to maintain a positive, public image while their under contract.
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I share your concern about the process this seems to be taking. I want the prosecutor to carefully prepare his or her case and then a jury who hears all the appropriate (and ONLY the appropriate information). Until then, despite (or ESPECIALLY) because of the furor over the accusations people need to be very careful about jumping to conclusions and/or taking actions that are based on a presumption of guilt.
Endorsemen contracts should probably be “suspending” (hold running ads or filming new ones).
As a private employer, the Falcons can make personnel moves that they believe are in their best interest. But I also think that they need to be careful that they handle this as an employee embroilled in a legal battle and NOT as a criminal on the payroll.