Week in Sportbiz: The end of the Tiger Effect? Plus Olympic bid shake-up, drinks all round, Lord Coe’s scare and Eddie Jones’s debt to Van Gaal
Tiger Woods survived a serious car crash this week, to the immense relief of the sporting world.
But it might not be such good news for the fabled Tiger Effect, to the consternation of golf’s broadcasters and advertisers.
While Woods may yet defy the odds once more and return to the sport he has redefined, there are understandable doubts that he can scale Major-winning heights again.
And he will certainly be unable to tee up at the Masters in a few weeks’ time.
The boost that Woods provides to television audiences when challenging for a Major is legendary: all of the top-rating Majors of the 21st century featured Tiger winning or on the charge.
There is some evidence for an argument that the Tiger Effect is not the only factor that matters any more.
His fairytale fifth Green Jacket in 2019 drew the smallest final-day US TV audience for a Masters in more than 25 years.
But that can also be attributed in part to the earlier-than-usual start time and more viewers watching online rather than on TV.
Woods has repeatedly beaten injury to return to the game he loves. Golf – and the golf industry – will feel his absence just as keenly.
Olympics shakes up bid process
Is bidding for major sporting events on the way out?
The International Olympic Committee has done away with its previous model of several cities campaigning a head of a vote, designating Brisbane its “preferred bidder” this week in a move that effectively concludes the selection process.
Other interested potential hosts included Doha, Budapest, Germany’s Ruhr Valley, China and Indonesia.
President Thomas Bach said the IOC had accelerated the process “given the uncertainty the world is facing right now”.
Drinks all round
It’s been a particularly busy week at the intersection of sport and beverages.
Peroni’s alcohol-free beer, Peroni Libera 0.0%, has signed up as a sponsor of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 team.
Team boss Lawrence Stroll is on record as declaring Peroni his favourite beer. So however the team fare in 2021, at least the drinks on offer in Aston Martin paddock won’t leave a bad taste.
British drinks brand Chase Distillery has become the official gin and vodka brand of the British and Irish Lions.
And finally, Andy Murray has continued his second career as a start-up investor by partnering with organic hydration drink brand Halo, whose other shareholders include rapper Pitbull.
Coe’s radio intervention
World Athletics boss Lord Coe is no stranger to public speaking but a recent radio appearance left him shaken.
A diligent former GP emailed the BBC after growing concerned at Coe’s gravelly voice during a Radio 4 show in December.
Coe says he was “slightly perturbed”, adding: “I sense that the nervousness being expressed was something that I really ought to take quite seriously.”
He swiftly booked in to see an ear, nose and throat specialist and was relieved to learn the diagnosis was nodules, which is treated not with surgery but speech and language therapy.
“This was a great act of kindness,” a reflective Coe told the Today Programme.
Jones follows Van Gaal’s lead
Eddie Jones has revealed why he has resisted calls to liberate England with free-flowing rugby.
It’s all down to a chance encounter with former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, one of football’s innovators but by no means a purist.
“He said ‘everyone’s got a dream of how they want to play, but the good coaches are then able to work out what players they’ve got, and what shape that takes’,” Jones told the Not Just Cricket podcast.
“And you’ve got to find a way to be effective. The only currency we have in high-level professional sport is winning.
“So with Japan, we’d play ruck and run, we’d play as quickly as we could. And with England at the moment the game that suits the circumstances is ruck and kick, which doesn’t appeal to some people but that’s the way it is.
“Maybe in two years’ time we might get back to playing ruck and run, but that’s the way it is.”