Cricket Australia and the players directly involved could literally pay a high price for the ball-tampering scandal engulfing the sport.

Fund manager Magellan is a major naming rights sponsor of Cricket Australia and has expressed its deep concern about behaviour that amounted to outright cheating.

It wants a quick resolution from Cricket Australia that involves decisive action against the players involved, and is waiting to see what the sport's governing body does before it takes any action.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has flown to Johannesburg to meet with senior legal counsel and head of integrity Iain Roy and general manager of team performance Pat Howard, with a full announcement of their findings expected on Wednesday morning, Australian time.

Magellan took the Commonwealth Bank's place as the men's team's main home series sponsor after CBA decided to shift its sponsorship dollars to women's, Indigenous, all-abilities and grassroots cricket.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 34 seconds 1 m 34 s "The leadership group knew about it," Steve Smith says

Captain Steve Smith is one of three CBA cricket ambassadors, along with women's cricket captain Meg Lanning and star all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

CBA told the ABC that it is awaiting the outcome of Cricket Australia's investigation before taking any action.

"We are disappointed about the events that have emerged from the third Test in South Africa and have asked for a full explanation from Cricket Australia following the conclusion of its investigation into this affair," a spokesman said.

Qantas, whose logo is prominent on the Australian team's shirts, also publicly disavowed the Australian cricket team.

"We are very disappointed," Qantas' chief executive Alan Joyce told the BBC's Today programme.

"Australia is all about 'fair go', and I think all Australians are very disappointed with what's happened with the cricket team.

"We've let them know that we want them [the authorities] to urgently complete the investigation and take the appropriate action."

Cricket Australia has already stood down Smith and vice-captain David Warner over the scandal, leaving Tim Paine in charge of the team for the final Test in the four-match series in South Africa.

Sponsors 'acutely aware' of reputational damage

David Warner and Steve Smith are at risk of losing lucrative personal sponsorships. ( Reuters: Rogan Ward )

Aside from a tattered reputation and losing the captaincy, the ball-tampering scandal could also prove very financially costly for Smith and Warner.

One of the Australian captain's major personal sponsorship deals is in doubt, with the makers of Weet-Bix saying the relationship is "under review".

Sanitarium told the ABC that it wants its brand ambassadors to "align with the right values".

Celebrity agent Max Markson believes Smith and Warner will be dumped by all their sponsors as a consequence of this negative publicity.

"They'll lose every single one of their contracts — nobody will stand by them," he said.

He said sponsorship contracts tend to contain a "morals clause", and "cheating" would see them fall foul of that.

Warner's website lists Asics, LG, Gray Nicholls, Nine, Toyota, Nestle's Milo and the Make-a-Wish Foundation as brand partners.

The ABC has contacted several of these companies for their response to Warner's involvement in the incident.

The Australian opener is strongly linked to South Korean electronics company LG, fronting ads for its televisions and air conditioners.

"LG is acutely aware of the incident in South Africa involving the Australian Cricket team," the company said in a statement.

"As a sponsor of vice-captain David Warner, we are keeping a close eye on developments in this case and in particular the ongoing response from Cricket Australia, which will inform actions regarding our partnership.

"Our ambassadorships are constantly undergoing review so that we are able to make the best decisions for our customers, employees and stakeholders.

"As a brand that sets out to improve the everyday lives of Australians, our focus is on ensuring our partnerships reflect those values and that is our first priority."

Nestle said Milo's sponsorship deal with Warner wrapped up at the end of last year.

Broadcast fees likely to drop

The ball-tampering scandal is bad timing for Cricket Australia, which is currently re-negotiating broadcast rights with free-to-air and Pay TV providers.

"It's hard to put a dollar figure as to how much this particular issue will cause losses for Cricket Australia," Michael Naraine, a sport management lecturer at Deakin University, told PM.

Dr Naraine said Cricket Australia was expecting a bid around $1 billion for the next six to seven years.

"They're not going to get that, and I think it's probably going to be closer to the $600-700 million mark," he said.

These sentiments are echoed by media analyst Peter Cox, who said Cricket Australia "won't be getting more money" this time.

"Most of the sporting bodies have been paying too much [for broadcast rights] in the past," he said.

"Free-to-air and Pay TV have run major sports as loss leaders and they can't continue to do that in the future."

The only way Mr Cox could see Cricket Australia command higher bids is if major US technology companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google bid for the online streaming rights.

However, he does not see that happening in the immediate future.