Just curious how restricting/limiting an athlete is in terms of wearing - for example - nike shorts and shirts because they are sponsoring him. Would he be fined for wearing a pearl jam shirt during practice, for example? Is it different for every athlete, and are there specific limitations in their contract and where the athlete has to wear or use the sponsor's stuff?

bored at work, sorry....

Is there a specific sport you're talking about, or just in general?

just in general i suppose - i mean can tiger wear a bon jovi hat when he's playing?

The idea came from watching some tennis, but it obviously applies to a lot of sports.

jeremy mayfield is looking to be sponsored by Vicks Nasal Sprays

My guess is Tiger is only required to wear Nike during competitions or promotional appearances. I think the equipment side of it is a little different. I know Tiger promotes Nike Victory Red irons (the big VR on the side of his hat), but he doesn't actually use them. And Padraig Harrington is sponsored by Wilson, but I'm pretty sure he's used other companies' clubs at different tournaments this year.

Now I really want to see Tiger Woods wearing a Bon Jovi hat.

I can give you a few instances in the NFL where players ran astray of sponsoring rules.

Urlacher fined $100,000 for media day hat
Bush hit with unspecified fine for Adidas cleats (he even had the balls to say that "Adidas took care of it" after he was fined.)

damn

To answer your question, an athlete with an endorsement deal can wear whatever he or she wants, in accordance with the rules at hand, as long as they don't violate their endorsement deal. IE Jordan could wear a Pearl Jam tee at the Olympics if Team USA said okay, but he would have broken his contract had he worn Addidas gear...or specifically anything with "Addidas" or the Addidas symbol on it, including a Pearl Jam tee. This was a fairly controversial part of the original Dream Team as several of them had deals with Nike and refused to even wear the Addidas warmups in practice.

I know that if they say "I only drink Gatorade" or "I only wear Champion T-shirts," they legally have to back that up and can't be seen in anything else.

This was more of an issue back in the day and that is why most ads are fairly vague when it comes to what their celebrity says.

As for wearing stuff, I'd imagine the company wouldn't care unless it was a direct competitor. Also, I am sure Nike gives Tiger the hat with the rules that he wears it when playing, right?

I know Jon Kitna was fined by the NFL for wearing a hat with a cross on it during a post game press conference. Mike Nolan and Jack Del Rio had to have Reebok suits designed for them because they wanted to wear suits on the sidelines.