TIGER WOODS UNLIKELY TO LOSE ANY SPONSORSHIP DEALS DECLARE UK BOOKMAKERS

With a minimal amount of official information trickling out over the weekend, it was more or less left up to the gossip media and celebrity blogosphere to wax lyrical about Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren’s supposed marital problems. The former Swedish model was rumoured to have attacked Tiger based on infidelity rumours and, after Woods crashed his car outside their house, she was reported to have smashed in the back window with a golf club. Now, these facts can be construed in a number of different ways, but I don’t think the golf club incident is as negative as they make it out to be. Local police were reported to have stated that Nordegren actually helped Tiger after the crash and the window smashing was the help get the current world #1 safely out of the car.
It reminds me of when, about a decade ago, the celebrity gossip media (who then were confined mostly just to print and TV) decided to go after Tom Hanks, specifically because he was such a tame guy. I think that the animosity being aimed at Woods is from a group of people that A) Don’t understand or care about golf and B) People who like seeing somebody who has accomplished much more than them get taken down a peg. Everybody wants to feel better than the rich and successful and I think that’s what we’re seeing here.
If you believed certain celebrity gossip sites, you would think that Tiger Woods life had spun completely out of control and he is going to get divorced, never going to play golf again and will subsequently lose all of his sponsorships. If you think that, then I suggest that you go soak your head in a bucket of water. Tiger Woods is unlikely to lose a single sponsor before 2010, and by that period, many assume that the negative news will have blown over.
Top UK bookmaker William Hill has released odds on whether Tiger will lose any sponsors and if so, whom. Tiger to not lose a single sponsor before the 2010 Open is paying out at a very slim 1/5. Thus, Tiger is heavily favoured to not lose a single sponsor because of this tabloid mess. Should he lose his Upper Deck or TLC contract, you’re looking at a 12/1 payout while Golf Digest, Tag Heuer and Netjets are listed at 16/1. Should he lose his Gillette Sponsorship, you’re looking at a 20/1 margin while a loss of his Gatorade, AT&T or Accenture sponsorships garners a 25/1 price. EA Sports and Nike are considered his biggest accounts and he is 33/1 to lose one of those.
Tiger’s sponsors aren’t going anywhere, and if you’re looking to make a 20% profit, then I suggest you bank on him to not lose a single sponsor. The only thing, in my opinion, that would make him lose a sponsor is if it came out that he struck his wife in any way. Judging from what’s come out, it looks like the only type of abuse in that relationship was her attacking him. And, of course, when a Man gets attacked by his wife everybody seems to think it’s really funny despite the fact that if the tables were turned, he’d likely be in jail.