When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
You may recall back on June 3rd after Forbes released its annual listing of top athlete income at $75 million, I questioned the math based on reports from IMG that the agency income from Tiger Woods endorsement deals had fallen to just over $1 million.
Well not entirely, but we now know from the former Stanford teammate that Tiger has committed to an August 31 rescheduling of a postponed appearance in the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge.
Spare me comments about the importance of the Open, the debt ceiling or the home run derby over this "Special Announcement" nonsense regarding Tiger Woods, Mark Steinberg and Golf Channel. That said, this was another valuable learning experience for those of us social media adopters and this painfully long dissection is necessary, if nothing else than to help most of you work on your quick scrolling abilities.
Still, for those who care, here goes.
It won't go down in the annals of sports gaffes like The Decision (as TMZ hinted), but instead the Tiger-Tilghman-Golf Channel-Steinberg "special announcement" non-news Monday appears to be a simple mistake compounded by social media and the late Sunday night timing.
Here are the events, as best as I can recreate them after making a few calls Monday.
- Golf Channel, whose PR department is very good about sending out press releases to announce special programming, did not send anything to media to promote this "special announcement" regarding Tiger Woods. This should have been the first cue that something was amiss. Instead, Golf Channel Tweeted that there would be a "special announcement concerning Tiger Woods on Golf Channel" at 11 a.m. ET.
- Adding fuel to the fire: the Golf Channel Tweet has since been taken down. Yet, the wording would help people see what was actually sent out, because it did say there would be a "special announcement concerning Tiger Woods on Golf Channel." No, there is nothing special about Mark Steinberg joining an agency, nor in the context of Tiger's career is this "special" news, but the Tweet also is not saying that Tiger himself would be making a special announcement. The Twittersphere and Facebook get the blame for taking the Tweet and twisting it. However...
- More confusion came Sunday evening when Golf Central anchor Scott Walker reported that "Kelly Tilghman will be on location" for this special announcement, but again, there was never a mention of a sitdown interview with Woods. Sadly for Tilghman, her business ties with Tiger's EA game and go-to status as Woods' safe-bet interview has become so ingrained that anyone who hears her name associated with Tiger now assumes another fawning interview is around the corner. But again, still not a legitimate reason to have assumed an interview was happening.
- Mark Steinberg, surely aware that he's going on Golf Channel and CNBC Monday morning to promote his move to a new agency Monday morning, denies there was ever a special announcement to AP, but does not take the opportunity to suggest to AP that this may have been a misunderstanding involving his own personal announcement. Perhaps because he was saving that news for his Keeler, Darren Rovell of CNBC, who does indeed get the scoop on Steinberg's new agency.
- When NPR calls Golf Channel Monday morning, they are told to tune-in to see what's up. Again, not a great move, but this is television and they want eyeballs.
In conclusion (applause breaking out), social media took some scraps of info and assumed the worse, then regular media and bloggers ran with it (myself included). Finally, Golf Channel and Steinberg did not clarify what was up once the media reports started going out.
In other words, a little blame goes around to all parties involved.
We did, however, get to hear Brandel Chamblee, sitting with Rich Lerner to host a very brief live "special announcement" report, try to justify why Golf Channel was cutting in to discuss an agent signing with a new agency.
Thanks to the reader who transcribed...
"To your point, any announcement involving Tiger Woods cause a contegration of speculation. But when you start talking about Tiger Woods, the diamond has lost almost all of its lustre. I think it is an important business decision going forward for Tiger Woods to look for places where he can change the way he is perceived as not only an athlete, but as a personality. He needs to align himself with certainly elite athletes, but squeaky clean athletes. Derek Jeter, these guys across the world of sports have very positive images. Tiger Woods, well you say he's made a fortune in the game of golf. But the fact is he's the single highest paid athlete in the world. So much depends on Tiger Woods...golf, personality, health. The heartbeat of golf beats in tandem with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods gets a fever, golf gets sick.
Okay here's where it gets a little strange and indecipherable. And the tone for those who saw it live was described as "borderline meltdown" and "seriously over the top."
You start talking about the PGA of America, the PGA TOUR, Yahoo.com, MSN, TMZ. Everyone of these companies and institutions have made a fortune on Tiger Woods' ascent. Some of these media outlets have made a fortune on his descent.
And the Golf Channel too. Maybe more than most?
They will all stand to make another huge fortune if he comes back. You start talking about blockbuster movies and how are they made up? They are made up of an ascent, followed by a descent; impossible hurdles that they can't get over, somehow they get over them, then they come back with an ascent, with perspective and humility. Tiger Woods, should he come back, will make more money than he's ever made before. Not just for himself, but for any business he's aligned with and any ancillary businesses that are with him."
Whoa Nellie!
Then he was asked by Lerner how hard it would be for Steiny to go out on his own.
"Impossible. you're talking about putting all of your eggs in one basket. Tiger Woods' marketability at this point is linked to one thing and one thing only. Winning. If he doesn't come back and win, Tiger Woods in 5, 10 years will hardly be marketable at all because the scandal will look like the thing that brought him down. If he comes back, people will say that this guy has withstood the most adversity that any athlete has endured. Wrongly so, but they will say that.
There goes another Texan thinking Hogan getting-hit-by-a-bus was a bigger deal.
"And that he climbed to a spot higher than he's ever climbed before and that he did so with dignity. Now whether he does so or no, that remains to be seen. But winning, we've seen this so many times. When someone wins, we attach these wonderful attributes to it."
Anyway, time to get on with some golf!
Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman will talk with Mark Steinberg Monday to discuss the agent’s future business endeavors. Golf Channel will air the interview at 11AM ET.
Steinberg, who has represented Tiger Woods since 1999, left International Management Group in May. Woods, who had been with IMG since turning professional in 1996, announced two weeks later, in June, that he would leave the company and remain with Steinberg.
Woods will not be present during the interview. He is recovering from knee and Achilles’ injuries and has not played since withdrawing from The Players Championship.
Curiously, Steinberg did not mention this (it appears) when refuting the reports of Tiger interview with Doug Ferguson of AP.
We already know what this is about...he's joining a new agency. Go back to watching the exciting finish to the U.S. Women's Open.
**Darren Rovell notes the task ahead of Steinberg in trying to sign Tiger to new deals, pointing out that Nike "hasn't really brought him back in the market fold." Rovell confirms that Tiger will be an Excel client but Annika is not sure yet, according to her "business manager."
Steinberg, who left IMG as the head of its global golf business last month, will bring his top client Tiger Woods with him, as non-compete clauses in his contract allowed.
It is not yet known whether he will bring the other client he was permitted to take with him, Annika Sorenstam. Sorenstam's business manager Mike McGee told CNBC that no final decision been made.
Doug Ferguson reports agent Mark Steinberg's statement.
Steinberg told The Associated Press on Monday: "There's an erroneous report that he's making an announcement, but he's not."
Meanwhile Golf Channel has deleted their Tweet.
**Liz Mullen reports that Steinberg has joined Excel Sports Management, founded by NBA agent Jeff Schwartz.
NPR's Mark Memmett calls the whole thing "rather odd" and notes this response he received after calling Golf Channel headquarters.
Many media outlets — except the one on which he's supposed to be appearing — are saying that golfer Tiger Woods will be making a "special announcement" of some kind on The Golf Channel at 11 a.m. ET.
We called The Golf Channel's headquarters in Orlando and all we could get out of them was "stay tuned to see." No confirmation, even, of whether Woods will be on.
With Kelly Tilghman the chosen interviewee, the suspicion is that the topic must be slightly delicate. Either way, the timing is miserable (Open week, really?) but consistent with Tiger's general lack of consideration for his peers he has scheduled some form of announcement Monday morning on Golf Channel.
Your predictions please.
**Just had to double check, but it is indeed 11 a.m. ET.
And nice predictions...thanks for the laughs!
An APF wire story has no idea either...
NBC sports reported Sunday night that "Woods will sit down with (anchor) Kelly Tilghman" to make the announcement. Neither the Golf Channel or NBC provided any details about the announcement.
There is speculation in golfing circles that Woods may announce he is going to miss more time while he recovers from injuries and knee surgery.
At SI.com, Michael McCann says that Dr. Galea's implicated athletes still have plenty at stake in the plea deal announced Wednesday. Apparently as part of the plea Dr. Spaceman has to share certain information about his suppliers and clients, and McCann seems to think that information has not been shared. While he says the investigators will mostly target suppliers, he notes this about athletes and their leagues.Robert Lusetich gets a reply from Steiny, who seems to be dangling some hope that Tiger will return at the PGA Championship in Atlanta.
Whose back is that he's rubbing? Wouldn't a little knee or Achille's rub have been more appropriate?
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
