Data Shows that America Supports Tiger

by Spencer Loomis

Clearly the press has been anything but positive for Tiger Woods since his Thanksgiving debacle but the old adage seems to be proving true: any publicity is good publicity.

According to CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Golfsmith, the nation’s largest golf retailer, has reported that sales of Tiger Woods brand apparel through Nike are up 8% in the last five months compared with the same five month period from a year ago.   From October 1^st, 2009 through March 13^th, 2010 Golfsmith sold 9,564 TW brand items; up from 8,855 from the same dates the previous year.

“People have not abandoned Tiger as a brand,” said Golfsmith CEO Marty Hanaka. The retailer gathered the data from its 74 locations nationwide as well as their online store and call center. The numbers make more sense in the frame that Golfsmith has been generally booming over the same period with share prices up more than 67% year-to-date indicating that this scandal has in fact been good for the sport of golf as a whole.

With all the scandal generated by Woods, a rational perception would be that recreational golfers (and their wives) would shy away from buying a brand that is now so closely associated with adultery and porn stars. This shocking statistic speaks to the celebrity culture that we Americans live in. When a celebutante flashes her cooch getting out her car, her perfume line sells better. If an actor is seen being helped from a nightclub in a drunken stupor his opening weekend box office numbers see a bump. Now we can say that athletes and sports aren’t so different from their Hollywood counterparts in the entertainment industry. I mean Michael Vick and John Daly each have their own reality show.

America is a capitalist society in which sales and dollars tend to define our values. If that is true then these numbers reflect a scary message about the values that sports represent in our country: achieve infamy and fortune will follow.