🐯 Tiger & Nike's Breakup

Tiger’s Search for a New Den

After nearly 30 years, Tiger Woods and Nike have officially ended their Facebook relationship status and are now considered, “single and ready to mingle.” We had so many wonderful memories with these two, from donning the Sunday red, to the epic “Never Stop Chasing Your Crazy Dream” ad after winning the 2019 Masters, or the “Did You Learn Anything?” ad where Earl Woods’ voice was dubbed to presumably address his son’s sex scandal before his return to golf.

But let’s give them credit, this partnership lasted longer than “Brangelina” and any of T-Swift’s relationships combined 👏. Today, we’ll be going through the history of this long partnership, how the sport of golf grew, why Nike would drop one of the most beloved athletes in the world, and where Tiger goes from here. Let’s break it down…

What is the history of Tiger Woods and Nike?

• In 1996, Nike signed then 20-year-old rookie Tiger to a five-year contract worth $40 million.

  • Later that spring, Tiger became the youngest and first non-white golfer ever to win the Masters — all while breaking a course record (270 score) and winning by the largest margin of victory (12 strokes) in the tournament’s history.

• In 2001, Tiger and Nike signed on again for another 5 years. This time worth $105 million and also having creative control when it came to his golf-style.

  • Once the new contract was signed, Tiger started to play with Nike golf clubs and debuted his “TW” golf line.

• In 2013, Tiger signed another extension for 10 years worth upwards of $200 million. And Nike Golf sales peaked to an all-time high of $792 million.

• During his time with Nike, the partnership included 15 major championship victories, 82 Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour wins, numerous comebacks from injuries and personal setbacks, and a total of $660 million earned in reported contracts.

How did Tiger influence the game of golf?

• It’s no secret golf has traditionally been considered a white-man’s game. In fact, until 1961, PGA rules specified that only Caucasians could be members. 26 years later, Tiger helped break down those barriers by being the first African-American to win the Masters in 1997.

• In the early 2000s, according to former CBS president Neal Pilson, TV audiences would drop 30-50% when Woods was not in contention. This so-called “Tiger Effect” contributed to PGA Tour winnings nearly tripling between 1996 and 2008, (he just so happened to win 14 major championships during that time lol). Oh hold on for a second, let me give you an idea of what Tiger brought to the table from a TV viewing & attendance POV 🤯:

  • From 2013 to 2017, Tiger rarely played because of injuries and personal issues. TV viewership fell 18% and attendance by 11%.

  • When Tiger returned for the 2018 British Open, TV ratings increased ~40% from the previous year.

    • For the 2018 PGA Championship, ratings increased ~70% from the previous year.

    • For the 2018 Tour Championship, which he won, the final round produced the highest rating of the year for a non-major tournament.

  • And this trend hasn’t let up (see metrics from Josh Carpenter below). Tiger’s return on NBC, Golf Channel, and Peacock delivered ~620k average viewers for the week, a 53% increase over the network’s 2022 coverage from the same event, where Tiger did not compete.

• Tiger was also at the forefront of style (let’s be real, the dude was swaggy!). It was all about leaning into golf attire that made players look like athletes, not gentlemen (boringggg 🥱). Whether that was rocking mock turtlenecks instead of golf polos in 2005, being one of the first athletes to rep Nike Dri-Fit, or being the first professional golfer to introduce his own golf shoe. The guy knew how to make golf look cool.

This doesn’t sound very smart, why would Nike agree to drop one of the most popular athletes in the world?

• Well, that’s a great question! In 2016, Nike put a stop to their golf equipment business, ending plans for any future clubs, balls or golf bags. However, they still sold golf apparel for all of us consumers who want to continue looking fresh to death on the course.

• There had been thoughts within the last couple years, Nike would get rid of their golf line altogether. And then a bombshell was released in December…Nike announced layoffs and a $2 billion cost-cutting plan over the next three years (gulp).

  • According to Nike CFO, Matt Friend, the restructuring will include “reducing management layers” as well as “simplifying the product assortment” (bigger gulp)

• The signs might’ve been pointing to this eventual breakup these last few years: Tiger’s been dealing with injuries to his ankles and feet, which is why he transitioned to Nike competitor, FootJoy, for more stability and comfort. He hasn’t won a major tournament since 2019 and he’s only played in 2 sanctioned tournaments since 2022.

Where could the GOAT turn to next?

• Comfort + Investment Opportunity > Performance: This wouldn’t be the first time Nike and a top tier athlete have parted ways at the end of their career. For example, Roger Federer split with Nike in 2018 and parlayed the move into a pair of lucrative new deals—he signed a 10-year, $300 million apparel deal with Uniqlo, and he aligned with Swiss sneaker brand On with an equity component worth more than $200 million. Tiger is also already dipping his toes into other forms of investments, such as forming a virtual golf league with Rory McIlroy called the TMRW Golf League (TGL).

• All hail the Endorsement King: Tiger is still involved with sponsors such as: Bridgestone, Hero, Kowa, Rolex, Monster Energy and TaylorMade. Among active athletes, only LeBron James earned more annually than Tiger from endorsements before his Nike deal ended. He also had working relationships with AT&T, Accenture, EA Sports, Gillette, Gatorade, and TagHeur.

• “TW” brand could use another home: The “TW” brand is officially a free agent, so why not piggyback on an already established sports apparel brand? Or maybe a golf brand? Wait, did someone mention one of Tiger’s biggest golf sponsors is TaylorMade? I think we did! And there have been reports of the brand increasing it’s apparel presence in the sport 🧐.

• Act II: from player to board member to boss?: There’s no rush from Tiger to select his next apparel partner. He’s recently accepted the “Face of Golf” role after joining the PGA Tour policy board in August amid their ongoing merger negotiations with LIV Golf, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (ruh rohh). He’s been extremely outspoken about LIV Golf and the merger with the PGA. Who knows, maybe this is step one to becoming the next PGA Tour Commissioner. (Maybe it’s time to say bye bye, Jay)

Quick Hitters

• 📺 Just like we hit on last Friday, the Chiefs-Dolphins game on Saturday was the first exclusively aired live-streamed NFL Playoff game. And my goodness did the numbers impress…even for Peacock. It became the most-streamed event in U.S. history, averaging 23 million viewers 🙊. It even beat out last year’s wild card matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers, which drew 20.6 million viewers on NBC. Look for this to be just the start of the NFL Playoffs streaming era.

• 🏈 The NFL are in talks to acquire an equity stake in ESPN, as reported by the New York Post. In return, the Worldwide Leader in Sports would gain control of NFL Media, including NFL Network and NFL RedZone. Disney CEO, Bob Iger, has been very upfront on the idea of either offloading or finding partners for ESPN. With cable subscriptions decreasing, their streaming service ESPN+ increasing prices and content, and the influx of online sports gambling through ESPN Bet (with the help of Penn Entertainment), this might be the perfect combo to further increase their subscriber base.

• 🫡 Barstool Sports CEO, Erika Ayers Badan, is officially stepping down after nearly 8 years at the company. Before being hired as CEO of Barstool, she was CMO of AOL. During her time, Barstool was acquired by Penn Entertainment (twice in one post?!?) for $550 million. In 2016, when she was first brought on board the pirate ship, the company was valued at around $15 million. This time around? $600 million…

• 🥇 The International Olympic Committee announced Anheuser-Busch InBev has been named the latest Worldwide Olympic Partner for the next three Olympic Games beginning with Paris this summer. And for the kicker…Corona Cero, AB InBev’s zero-alcohol beer, will be the global beer sponsor of the games. I’m sorry what? Come again? That’s right, you have our permission to blame green-juice-wellness-fiends and Gen-Z again as sales of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits have increased 32% in 2023.