Woods first athlete to earn $1 billion

http://www.ohio.com/sports/63381677.html

by alexitosrv • 17 years ago

11 25 17 years ago

hughprime• 17 years ago

I have nothing against golf as a game, and I've played it a few times myself, but the idea that there's this much money floating around just in sticking logos on the shirts of guys who hit balls into holes to persuade other guys to buy new sticks with which to hit other balls into holes makes me feel like there's an awful lot of money being wasted.

DannoHung• 17 years ago

Golf is the most popular sport for wealthy people. Ever watch (and not fall asleep) a golfing event on TV? Advertisements are for ridiculous luxury goods and asset management services.

eserorg• 17 years ago

Profitability of an advertising franchise = (value-per-impression) x (Number-of-Impressions)

Online social networking has an extremely low value-per-impression.

Professional golfing has an extremely high value-per-impression.

Which explains why Tiger Woods has generated more in profits than the entire history of the online social networking business.

Goronmon• 17 years ago

Prize money, appearance fees, endorsement fees, bonuses and his golf course design business were calculated to have pushed him over $1 billion.

Not just simply advertising for golf clubs. I wonder how much is golf course design business is worth.

Not to mention Woods is such a dominant player in his sport. Take salaries for baseball players and funnel it even more to the top players and you might have similar results.

adharmad• 17 years ago

You can say that about a lot of entertainment in general.

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

And I'm sure you also think people should not spend their money on Rolexes when a Casio will do, or on Mercedes when a VW will do...etc.

People pay for what they want to pay for.

ankeshk• 17 years ago

Tiger Woods should be lauded. No crazy spending sprees. No expensive divorces. No being taken advantage of by friends and "business associates." No loss in risky business ventures.

He not only earned the money. He retained it too.

evansolomon• 17 years ago

Do you actually know any of this other than the divorces part? I have no evidence that Tiger goes on wild spending sprees or has lost money on bad investments, but I have no evidence that he hasn't either.

FYI I am about as big a Tiger Woods fan as you'll find and if you made me take one side of a bet, I'd take yours, but this seems like an odd statement of fact.

antidaily• 17 years ago

I know his Dubai golf course is tanking. But I'm not sure he's not just lending his name to it.

pxlpshr3• 17 years ago

Can someone point me in the direction of why this is HN worthy? I'm missing the connection here.

mattyb2• 17 years ago

This way -> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225879

pxlpshr3• 17 years ago

I'd understand your point if this story was even remotely associated to HN, technology, or "hacking the system".

CWuestefeld• 17 years ago

For one thing, it makes me wonder...

Why is it that an entrepreneur that gets rich is frequently criticized for making too much money, taking it out of the pockets of his customers; while on the other side of the coin, the sports figures who haven't created anything (other than a feeling of satisfaction in fans, I suppose) are still celebrated?

nuweborder2• 17 years ago

I guess Lebron didnt have his wish come true of becoming the 1st Billion dollar athlete. But he's got many more years to come. Im sure he will surpass that number. As it is whatever his new contract is after this season, and whereever it is, is going to be worth a ridiculous amount. Try the possibility of a $50 million per year deal with a European team. Not to mention the Nike deal, the movie being released this year, the management company, a profitable and public relationship with the greatest rapper on the planet (Jay-Z), and many more endorsements. Who knows, maybe he'll be the first $2 billion dollar athlete. He taking a page from the book or "Jordan". Brand yourself, and take away from the game, more than just championships, and shoes. But a name that is worth even more.

Its like his friend Jay-Z said, "Im not a businessman, Im A Business, man."

ssharp• 17 years ago

He would be able to make twice as much in salary if he went to Europe but he'd probably lose more money in the long-run by not playing in the NBA.

I get the feeling that Lebron will be able to leverage the Chinese ties which a new minority owner of the Cavs has and find a way to tap into the fledgling basketball market in China. Yao Ming has opened up a gigantic market for the NBA and someone is going to make a lot of money off of it.

nuweborder2• 17 years ago

Good point. That new Cavs Chinese ownership can definately be capitalized on, and their is a lot of Global money to be made from that deal. They loved him in China during the 08' Olympics in Beijing. Will be exciting to see what he's gonna do come next summer. Europe, Stay with the Cavs, NYC, Jersey (Brooklyn), etc. His options are endless. At one point, I thought the Jersey move was out because the team was having so much financial trouble with the possible Brooklyn move. But now with the new Russian ownership, along with his relationship to part-owner and friend, Jay-Z, that may be a viable option again.

raganwald• 17 years ago

I found this amusing and a little thought-provoking:

"Forbes says Tiger Woods has become the first athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings.

"The magazine estimates that golf's top-ranked player crested the plateau when he earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup on Sunday.

"Forbes reported on its Web site on Tuesday that Woods entered 2009 having earned $895 million since he joined the PGA Tour in 1996. Prize money, appearance fees, endorsement fees, bonuses and his golf course design business were calculated to have pushed him over $1 billion.

"The magazine says former NBA great Michael Jordan and former Formula One driver Michael Schumacher, at $800 million and $700 million, respectively, are Woods' closest competition in career earnings.

"More golf: Watson takes 2-shot lead"

So we have this stupendous amount of money discussed for four paragraphs, and then the cliché "And in other news..." is that Watson has taken a two shot lead somewhere or other. The implication that both datums are of roughly equal interest to the reader is amusing and makes me curious. Is it a machine that decides that? Or does a human actually believe that after reading about Tiger having earned a billion dollars the reader will next want to turn back to the details of a match instead of thinking more about investments and careers?

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

That is an interesting thought and one of the many problems with the way data is typically organized.

This IS the "sports" section of the paper, but whether or not this is the appropriate paradigm is certainly worth questioning...

rdouble• 17 years ago

It is the sports page. Even if it wasn't, how would a journalist segue from this to investment and careers?

"In other news, no matter how shrewd you are, you will never achieve a fraction of Tiger Wood's net worth. But let's talk about 401k plans, anyway."

or maybe

"If you happen to be rich, remember, Tiger Woods got there by playing golf - you had to spend 20 years trading natural gas futures in Calgary."

There doesn't seem to be a great angle...

coglethorpe• 17 years ago

I assume the "Watson" is Tom Watson and is one of a handful of golfers who deserves mention alongside Woods. He darn near won the British open at age 59 and, while not a billionaire, has made some crazy money getting the ball in the hole in fewer strokes than the other guys.

jodrellblank• 17 years ago

I'm quietly pleased that the world had a billionaire author before a billionaire sportsperson.

Woods first athlete to earn $1 billion

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