It was the crash heard ‘round the world. In the late evening on November 29th, 2009, the most famous athlete in the world, Tiger Woods, crashed his car near his suburban home outside of Orlando. On the surface, it seemed harmless…Tiger accidently swerved off the road and hit a tree suffering minor injuries. However, questions were being asked and dirty details started arising. The most famous golfer in the world was now under criticism that even Superman himself could not handle. And now, me and millions of Americans have considered Tiger as a great golfer, but not a role model.
The details stated that Tiger Woods got into an argument with his wife, Elin, of over 5 years thus causing Tiger too flee from the home in his SUV. He began refusing to speak to police turning his “minor” accident into a national story that needed to be dug into. Suddenly, word came out that Tiger had an extramarital affair with a nightclub manager in the past year (Dahlberg). The rumors did not stop there as more and more women decided to reveal their dark secrets to the national tabloids. Woods image began getting tarnished by all these accusations. Two weeks later nearly a dozen women told their stories, many being very intimate and passionate (Dahlberg). Though the accusations were stopping, his ordeal was just beginning. Tiger remained silent, refusing to speak to the media, police, and even his own friends. This turned into the media story of the year as nearly every tabloid featured Wood’s incident in their articles.
Finally, Tiger decided to speak. He uttered the words many of us were waiting for, for weeks. Tiger explains, “I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children,” (Dahlberg). He was finally asking for forgiveness, but in his mind he knew his image was already ruined.
Then he said something that shocked the sports world…Tiger Woods would be taking a leave of absence from golf to fix his fractured family life. Just in the previous year, Tiger Woods captured 7 tournament championships and many sports writers considered he was playing his best golf that he has ever played (Dahlberg). He was prepared to go into 2010 on a mission, and “three of the four major championships were at courses he had won majors in previous years,” (Dahlberg). But, Tiger was taking a break, leaving many to wonder when his inevitable return would be. Many hoped he would come back for the first major championship, The Masters, in mid April, while others believed he might miss the entire year. Luckily, for sports fans, sports industries, and Tiger himself, he returned to The Masters and finished in an impressive fourth place (CBS Sports).
However, the damage was still there. There was no reversing his past; he could only focus on his future career in golf and with his family. But there was still a major concern in the whole incident: How did his sponsors react to the whole situation? Well, for one, before the incident, Tiger Woods was making an estimated 100 million in endorsements each year, more than any other athlete (KCRA). However, due to the recent troubles, Tiger’s sponsors decided to make some changes. For one, Gatorade, the leader in sports drinks, ended their sponsorship with Woods, making not only Woods, but also the Gatorade shareholders lose a lot of money. This downfall continued when Gillette and Accenture, two major sponsors of Tiger, were going to suspend or permanently cut Tiger from their advertisements, citing that “he was no longer the right representative,” (KCRA). Though Tiger’s money is not an issue, the lists of stockholder’s in his sponsors are suffering. In a study done by two UC Davis economics professors, it was predicted “the scandal reduced shareholder value in the sponsor companies by 2.3 percent, or about $12 billion,” (KCRA). Usually, an incident like this by any athlete creates only minor problems, so this goes to show us how important Tiger Woods is in every aspect of life.
Another problem the affair cost was the television ratings for the upcoming golf tournaments. Even though Tiger was lucky enough to play in The Master’s this year, the Nielsen ratings predict that viewership is 50% higher when Tiger is playing in a tournament (Lipsey). Many were worried this would take a major toll on the $75 billion dollar golf industry. If Tiger were not to play in a major tournament, the networks would lose a good amount of sponsors that want to advertise during commercials, because the fear of less viewership and thus the advertisements would mean much less. Though no one is certain what may have happened if he didn’t play this past spring, golf experts feared the worst for the sport they love so much.
Though he played in the major, he did miss a few tournaments in the winter causing a crush to the economy in those local towns that expect a huge boom whenever their tournament is played. Tiger’s big event, the Buick Open, was held out in San Diego and is always a big event, even though it is not a major tournament. Tiger’s presence at this event always brings spectators from around the area and brings serious golf fans that want to see Tiger. However, this years tournament turned our differently. For one, the previous two Buick Open’s attracted nearly 50,000 spectators to the events and generated $30 million for the city (Lipsey). However, this year the impact of an absence of Tiger caused the city of San Diego to generate only about $12 million, a reduction of nearly 60% from the previous year (Lipsey). As he says in the article, it looks like Tiger may also need to apologize to the city of San Diego.
The fall from grace that Tiger experienced this past winter will take a while for him and the rest of us to recover from. I’m sure that whenever we see Tiger, or at one point during a round, we will think about what that man went through and how he betrayed his family and fans. Surely by now most of us have somewhat forgiven him for what he did, but no one will forgive him for the way he handled the whole situation. In my opinion he acted childish and immature when dealing with the media and police. Also, for being the most beloved and famous athlete today, he acted so scared and feared. He should be smart enough to have a sense of handling the public, or at least hire an advisor to help him. Though the situation has seemed to blow over, now that Tiger is back on the course, his reputation as a role model diminished in my opinion. Everyone makes mistakes, but he should know better as a human being to act responsibility when he has everything he could possibly want, and well that in itself might just be the problem. Greed can be a dangerous thing, and Tiger Woods was guilty of that.
Dahlberg, Tim. "Two Weeks That Shattered the Legend of Tiger Woods." San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate. 12 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2010.
Lipsey, Rick. "Economic Impact of Tiger Woods Absence Might Not Be Severe, Golf Industry Experts Say - Tours & News - Golf.com." Golf News, Instruction, Equipment, Travel, Courses and More | Golf.com. 15 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2010.
"Woods Scandal Cost Shareholders Up To $12B - Project Economy News Story - KCRA Sacramento." Sacramento News, Stockton, Modesto Breaking News, Weather & Sports - KCRA Sacramento's Channel 3. 28 Dec. 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.
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