Tiger was a poor example. Im not saying 5 million a year from Ludwig, but if I was say Alex Van Halen during the 80"s and 90's, would it be ok to get 100 grand a year to stay with Ludwig?
Finances in the MI industry just don't allow for that kind of cash to be thrown in one direction. Within a company's marketing budget, the endorsement allocation is usually pretty small, and $100k is much more than most companies have to spread around to everyone on their roster, let alone one person. In Ludwig's case, I doubt that it would be Alex anyway.
Also, when you think of how large Yamaha is for example, you also have to understand that in the USA, there's a division called Yamaha USA that operates somewhat independently from their zilllion-dollar parent in Japan, at least in terms of the budgets they are allocated, and how they handle them. I suspect the same goes for Pearl, and I know Sonor is under Hohner
USA, which handles its budgets very carefully these days. There are precious few US Sonor endorsers to begin with, let alone that any of them would be paid cash.
I wonder why so many people think its ok to get basically nothing as compensation.
MI endorsers don't get "nothing", they are compensated in the form of monetary discounts (up to 100% for the top names,) support, ego, and in some cases the guarantee of paid clinics (which means they have to earn that pay.) There is a severe minority of players who are
rumored to get cash for their endorsement, but knowing what I do about the industry and specific companies, I have my doubts.
Bermuda