"So far as I know, nobody's Tigered me or LeBroned me yet," said McGrady, who according to industry estimates, earns roughly $6 million a year in endorsements in addition to his $21.1 million salary from the Rockets this season.

Estimates for 2008 have Yao earning $36.5 million, of which $21.5 million comes from various endorsement deals. His current endorsement packages from multiple sponsors total $150 million, Newsweek reported.

"As far as we go and how the economy has affected us and athlete marketing, it's really stemmed the tide of future deals more than affected current deals," said Bob Myers, the marketing representative for McGrady, 29, with the Wasserman Media Group. "I do think we're going to see an impact on deals going forward, the ability to generate new deals in a lot of different marketplaces.

"As far as Tracy is concerned, of course I could get a phone call in the next 10 minutes telling me different, but there has been no change, no scaling back by any of our partners.

"Tracy's biggest deal is with Adidas and it absolutely helps to have the exposure he does in Asia, China in particular. If you have reach in China, that certainly gives you a cushion and he has it. You're spreading the risk when you're a global icon."

Few outside Woods, Michael Jordan and English soccer star David Beckham have the global icon status of Yao, who has in his portfolio deals with Reebok (owned by Adidas), Coca-Cola, GPS maker Garmin and Visa. Yao, 28, just began a partnership with T-Mobile, and a TV ad campaign with Charles Barkley and Dwyane Wade made its debut in November.

"In Yao's case, there's been no sign of anyone pulling back," said Bill Sanders, Yao's U.S. marketing representative with BDA Sports. "That's mainly because his partnerships, most of them, are long-term.

"The T-Mobile deal came about recently, very shortly before we shot the commercial in late October. That was a good indicator. I'm not an expert on the telecom industry, but I would imagine that cell phones are things that people have to have today and the competition gets fierce. So I would imagine that it's not an industry that's going to slash its budget tremendously."

Big names take hits

The shrinking economy could have some companies examining their relationships with athlete endorsers in terms of how well the product meshes with the celebrity image. Woods, who leads the way with an estimated $95 million a year in endorsement earnings, had his $7 million-a-year deal with Buick ended before it was supposed to expire at the end of 2009.

"I think you really have to be careful of the choices you make, both as an agent and as a sponsor," Sanders said. "I think there really have to be great fits. The people that I have spoken to over the years have said, ?Well, does Tiger Woods really drive a Buick?'?"

James' deal with Microsoft ended after the company decided not to renew after the original two-year contract.

"Look, nobody's bigger than Tiger Woods, or LeBron James in Basketball," Myers said. "So if it can affect those guys, I would tell you that nobody is immune. Those are probably the two top athlete endorsers in the U.S."

The top executives of all the major sports are expecting to take some kind of financial hit as the economy limps along. NBA commissioner David Stern, in a radio interview on NPR, talked about a potential 5 percent decrease in sales and attendance in the current season. Stern said he believes the majority of fans will attend games but might spend less on food or souvenirs.

More penny-pinching

The NBA might show only a slight decline this season because the commitments to buy season tickets and sponsorships were made before the economy swooned in late September.

"I think the baseball period that's going on right now, their free agency is coming at potentially the worst time of this economic crisis," Myers said. "They're probably the sports industry that's timed this in the worst way."

If fans do stay away from arenas, ballparks and stadiums as a result of budget-trimming, it could translate into endorsement deals being more effective.

"I actually think there's some truth to the old adage that sports is recession-proof," Sanders said. "People do tend to stay home more when things are difficult and tend to spend more time with things that get their minds off their trouble. And watching their team play is one of those things. So as long as ratings are strong and advertisers still need to move their product, I think they'll continue to spend a good deal of their money on sports.

"The other adage is that sports are TiVo-proof. People want their sports live. I read something the other day that said 30 percent of American households have DVRs and that number will only increase. So if you're an advertiser and want a place to reach your consumers, you know that sports are something that people just don't TiVo."

Effects far-reaching

Myers isn't so optimistic.

"I don't believe anything is immune to the recession," he said. "If you look at consumer staples, a lot of people are taking a hard look at their situations. Corporations are doing that, too. And any time you take a hard look at something, you probably end up trimming some part of it.

"Some people may take the approach and say this is the most important thing in my life and I'm not going to trim this. But I've got to believe that, at some level, every industry, no matter what it is, is going to take some type of hit from all this. When you see it touch Tiger and LeBron, that's obvious."