Nike suspended its $70 million Sharapova bet within hours of her doping admission

Maria Sharapova was the world's highest-paid female athlete for eleven straight years — she earned US$29.7 million in the year to June 2015, according to Forbes, most of it from endorsements. Her Nike contract, signed in 2010 for eight years, was worth US$70 million.

On 7 March 2016 Sharapova called a press conference to announce she had tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open — a drug that had been added to the banned list two months earlier, which she said she had taken for a decade for health reasons. Nike suspended its relationship within hours: 'We are saddened and surprised by the news about Maria Sharapova. We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues.' TAG Heuer said it would not renew her contract; Porsche suspended its planned activities.

The suspension became the floor, not the ceiling. The ITF tribunal banned Sharapova for two years on 8 June 2016; the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut that to 15 months on 4 October 2016, accepting that she bore 'no significant fault or negligence'. She was eligible to return to the tour on 26 April 2017 — fifteen months after a single press conference had suspended the world's most expensive female-athlete endorsement.