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Comments
Tiger was the rising tide that made all other boats rise. Attendance and ratings went up because of him from 1997-2008. I don’t like tiger at all and the unending coverage bothers me too...but you can’t argue dollars and cents on this one. Tiger changed the game more than anyone else.
Arnold Palmer and his agent changed not only golf but American sports as a commodity more than anybody else.
Tiger brought crowds, which put money in the pockets of promoters, but prize money has increased in every major sport since the late 90s.
Did Tiger help promote other players ? I think the opposite happened, he **** the air out of the room.
He gets casual fans to watch by name recognition alone.
Avid golfers don’t move the ratings needle, but a casual fan would tune in to see Tiger either fail or win.
Most of them could maybe name two pro golfers... Tiger being one.
I really have never liked Tiger. I can appreciate his greatness and have seen him at the Masters a few times. I just see him as the Ohio State, the Yankees, the Lebron, the Patriots of golf. My family is from Augusta so I grew up going to the Masters and used to at least follow the majors so I’d know who was who was who. I got tired of Tiger quickly. And a lot of it was the swarming media frenzy around him. Plus I always knew he was a dick. He just gives off that vibe. I certainly had my feelings confirmed in reading the book about him by Keteyian and the other guy. It’s pretty damning.
So I don’t have the pulling for him feeling as many seem to. I feel sorry for him because his dad was apparently a trainwreck and his mom was a bit weird too. But the Williams sisters seem to be not that screwed up and their dad was a bit of a stage manager type supposedly. Plus they had a sister that was shot with an AK in a botched drive by. Just saying. Great golfer, not so great a guy.
Of course Tiger will be featured. The networks would sacrifice a small child in a pool of goat's blood every week to have him consistently pushing the leaderboard. Ask the other players on tour if they secretly wish he would retire. I'd wager a near unanimous no. More viewers equals more money. It is incorrect to say Tiger wasnt directly responsible for a huge growth in golf revenue. Those dollars would have been divided among another sports.
The reason he increased ratings is because he drew an entire racial demographic to the sport. Those followers largely went away when Tiger left, so now the coverage is going to be skewed in an effort to gain back the attention of that 12.5% of the population. Two black dudes who frequent our restaurant for Sunday brunch and NEVER watch golf nor even play wanted to sit at the bar to watch the British that Sunday brunch. One graduated from UGA. I had to tell him he was rooting against a fellow Dawg. Didnt care.
Tiger didnt steal the spotlight from anyone deserving of more attention in his heyday. He was the best (at that time), and is one of the 3 best players ever. He wont catch Jack so Im not ever going to call him the best. He hasnt done much in 10 years.
Pretty amusing. If the 20th ranked player had the same chance as the #1 then tournament wins would be spread evenly among the Top 20 players. Guess what?
Facts are facts. Viewership increases when Tiger plays. It was up 38% on Sunday during the British Open compared to last year. The difference? Tiger wasn’t playing Sunday of last year. That means more advertising dollars.
Furthermore, he has played in 10 tournaments this year and has 4 top 10 finishes. There aren’t 20 golfers who have a 40% top 10 finish rate this year.
He will be the story on the first two days in each tournament he plays this year simply because of his coming back from back surgery. If he isn’t in contention on Saturday and Sunday then the storyline becomes those who are in contention.
Bottom line, Tiger brings money to the PGA.
Arguing with wcdawg is like trying to explain the color blue to a blind man. And yet I still try to do it from time to time
Golf, Tennis, & even baseball (to a lesser degree).... it's what is on TV all spring & summer, when everyone is REALLY JUST waiting on COLLEGE FOOTBALL & THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS to HURRY UP AND COME BACK!!! GO DAWGS!!!
The game of golf has more young talent than it ever has, yet all of the talking heads still focus on a washed up has been. I’m with WC on this one.
You're incorrect, as usual.
Ever notice you always take an opposing view to me ?
It's as if you feel a sense of duty to do so.
Not always. But when I do it’s usually correct. Arnold Palmer was fantastic for his era, but you really can’t compare him to what Tiger Woods did. You see it your way, and I see it the other.
When you’re disagreeing it seems you just double down on it and it get tiresome. Yet here I am disagreeing with you again and I’m sure you’ll have some snappy rebuttal for me
Just an add on to what I said earlier about Tiger bringing money to the PGA, the year he turned pro (not a full year), there were 9 golfers who exceeded $1 million in earnings. The following year, that number doubled to 18. The next year it went to 26. Then 36. There were 45 the next year (2000). Then 55, 61, 72, 77 - you get the picture. More than 100 guys have made more than $1 million each of the last few years.
How do earnings increase 5 fold in less than 5 years (mid-1996 to 2000)? Because a guy by the name of Tiger Woods hit the scene and brought hundreds of thousands of viewers. Along with that came millions upon millions of dollars in advertising revenue which increased the winnings of every player on tour.
People may think he’s done, and he may be. But he flashes enough of the old Tiger where if he can put 3 to 4 rounds of that together, he can still win. His best days are definitely behind him, but I still enjoy watching him play. I also enjoy watching Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and many others.
While he isn't as good now as he used to be, nobody can argue that Tiger isn't one of the greatest athletes of the past couple of decades. Is he the dominant player that he used to be? Of course not, but boy is he fun to watch and he's good for the game.
Some of the shots he pulled out at the Open the other week were incredible. You don't have to like him but the guy gets all that attention for a reason. He won 14 majors for goodness sake and he looks like he might have a couple more in him if the chips break right. If he does, it will be one of the great stories in sports and a lot of casual golf fans will love it, so you can hardly blame broadcasters for hoping that happens.
You have zero historical perspective.
Palmer and his agent pretty much invented the system of promoting athletes that Jordan and Tiger became super rich off of.
There is no comparison, that much is true. Palmer was the highest earning athlete for decades, nobody has come close to his unique position of dominating celebrity athlete.
Tiger had a piece of a bigger pie, but he was never THE single dominant force Palmer was.