Ever since LeBron James opted to skip going to college and go straight into the professional ranks, he has had a few longstanding brand partnerships that have followed him from Cleveland to Miami, back to Cleveland, and now to Los Angeles. However one of those longtime partnerships that James has helped him build a business empire is now ending, as James will be leaving Coca-Cola after over 17 years as an endorser for the company, most notably, Sprite.
A.J. Perez and Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports reported on Friday that James will be signing a deal with Coca-Cola rival PepsiCo to become the face of Mountain Dew’s new energy drink and also potentially be the pitchman of the brand’s signature drink, Pepsi. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who very recently wrote a book on all of LeBron’s business deals over the years, “LeBron Inc.,” confirmed the deal.
The move is a massive one for James as far as his on-court partnerships. He signed a lifetime deal with Nike but it seems clear that he and his reps either wanted more out of the Coca-Cola deal or Pepsi simply offered them more than Coca-Cola was willing to give them. Either way, we may have seen the last of LeBron James in Sprite commercials.
