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After the release of footage of Ray Rice striking Janay Palmer in September 2014, it was reported that Nike had cut ties with the athlete. Additionally, per ESPN, Rice would no longer be part of “Madden NFL 15,” an EA Sports video game based on the league. Rice also lost his sponsorship deal with VertiMax, a performance equipment company with which he had previously worked, to donate a sports training system at Nazareth Area High School through the “Ray of Hope” initiative. “After internal discussion about the events that transpired, we determined that a future relationship with Ray did not align with our goals as a company,” VertiMax CEO Michael Wehrell declared, despite choosing to stand by Rice when other brands had pulled away early on.
In his May 2014 press conference, Rice said of companies that chose to part ways with him, [5:59] “I know many of my supporters, sponsors, who have, you know, acted as so to not want to be, you know, in partnership with me, you know, that’s my fault … I take full responsibility for that.”
