One thing you must know about sports and athletes is that, regardless of how wack or infamous an athlete is, he’ll always have his loyal audience, even if majority dislikes his performances, there’ll always be those who’d still enjoy the vibes he brings to the game, he may not be the best or as popular as other athletes that everyone knows and loves, but that doesn’t mean everyone hates or dislikes them either.
The sponsors will surely have a particular audience they’re targeting and and if they’re able to attract that particular audience, I’m pretty sure that the rest who dislikes the athletes wouldn’t be their problems anymore as they’ll still satisfied.