Tiger's Back and Marketers Couldn't be Happier

Sports 101: He is a sports marketers dream!


Let's way the pro's and con's of Tiger Woods' return to the PGA Tour. With the exception that other golfers had a shot to win a tournament, there are no cons to Mr. Woods return.

Darren Rovell Reporting: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1040517578

According to today's Wall Street Journal's Suzanne Vranica Nielson ratings saw a 47 % drop in viewership of golf during Woods' rehab from knee surgery. Also, companies such as Nike, PepsiCo and General Electric are going to be using Woods' return to pioneer their reign atop the sports marketing world.








Gatorade is running a print ad in Sports Illustrated, Pepsi is relaunching its Tiger Focus drink, and NBC announced Tiger's return right before his return to the green.















Woods is certainly a sports marketers dream. He brings back the casual fan to his or her television set and his sponsors are licking their chops eager to launch their campaigns.

The Effects of the Economy on the Sports World

Sports 101 knows we are all feeling the pain. Including the sports world.


So, everyone knows how bad our economy is. Nascar is suffering, and the Arena Football League even canceled its season this year. So does the economy only a hit the not as popular sports? The answer is unequivocally no!

The NBA, MLB and the NFL are also feeling its effects. The Los Angeles Lakers have unloaded two players to avoid two million in taxes. The league executives are frightened to take on new player's salaries as was apparent when the NBA trade deadline passed without much action.



With the acception of the New York Yankees, teams are reluctant to pay big money to free agents. Perhaps, Manny Ramirez and other Major League Baseball players will be sorry for not signing deals when the money was on the table. Merchandise sales are down and so are ticket sales at some stadiums. Yahoo! wrote a story about players needing to borrow money from teamates.....what? A million dollars doesn't pay your bills?

The NFL is also perplexed especially because of Al Davis's irrationality. Who pays over 60 million to a cornerback? Players can't expect to that kind of money in today's economy.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1045372898

Going to a football game for a few hours costs a lot of money. Will fans make up the cost of these insane expenditures by going to the games and buying merchandise? Sports 101 doesn't think so.

Angel's Need to Read the Memo

The "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" are sliding across a slippery slope. With the departure of Francisco Rodriguez and the release of Garrett Anderson, can one assume that they are still the favorites to win the West?



In the Los Angeles Times this morning, Garrett Anderson's departure, well perhaps, was brought center stage. The Angels did not agree to excersise his option so it looks as like he will departing the team with just about every Angel's offensive record in franchise history. Not only is Sports 101 dissapointed in the Angels, but we think they are stupid. Instead, of offering Anderson a deal for far less money than a lot of other players, they opted to say Garrett, you are out, and we choose an always injured, slower left fielder than you.


Not only is Anderson one of baseball's classiest guys, but he is a professional and absolute role model. This is one guy who you will never hear being discussed in the same sentence as steriods. Baseball players often say that they understand it's a business but that is a load of balogne. If it's a business decision, I bet the PR people and marketing executives with the Angel's are angry too. Unless the Angels replace Anderson with a star the top business managers in Angel land are, well, idiots!!

Super Bowl Sunday and I Have Nothing to Say

Sports 101 is sick of the so-called super bowl hype. How about the super bust? One team has winning history flowing through its veins, while the other has been a disappointment since its inception.

The media wants everything to be a big to-do, and rightfully so. Afterall, that's how they make their money. But, when the media mentioned how happy David Stern would be to see the Lakers play the Celtics in the NBA finals, the media isn't praising the NFL and Roger Goodell's last two teams. And, well that's because nobody cares about Arizona vs. Pittsburgh. Well, Sports 101 doesn't.






The Wall Street Journal carried a story on how the slow down in the US economy hurts the super bowl. Maybe, I don't have I care more about real issues like lay-offs and job cuts, or perhaps I just don't care this year. That said, I will watch the game...but I don't care for either team. Do you?