Braun's image was helped dramatically when Major League Baseball found that Braun's positive test was wrong, allowing him to keep the NL MVP award and his image to remain intact, for the moment at least.
During the time when Braun was undergoing his appeal process, he remained close with sponsors, as he worked with Nike, Sam Bats and AirTran, his apparel company and his Milwaukee restaurant. Image, however, if Braun's appeal failed.
Around ten years ago, Kobe Bryant was charged with rape allegations, which caused him millions of dollars in endorsement deals, as companies dropped the star athlete. Although many would consider rape allegations to be a lot more devastating and serious than drug charges, I cannot see how Braun wouldn't have lost a lot of support if the allegations were proven to be true.
Braun's local sponsor deals most likely would not have been harmed, given his local fan base and fans who may be more forgiving. He would have definitely lost sponsor deals outside of the Milwaukee area if allegations were proven to be true.
Braun is fortunate too that the all of this drama is occurring in the offseason, not in season when baseball is a 24/7 topic.
Either way, Braun is the face of the Brewers franchise and with the new findings that the positive tests were false, fans in Milwaukee can breathe again.
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