Who Benefits From Tiger Woods' Scandal?

Certainly not Woods, his sponsors, his family, or the charities he supports. But TV ratings for his next match will be stratospheric

By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek

1. All Tiger, All the Time

As widespread titillation and fallout from the Tiger Woods scandal continues, and mainstream media and the tabloids alike keep their vigil outside the gates of Woods' Isleworth (Fla.) home, we realize we've turned the page in the playbook on how the media treats sports figures, as opposed to Britney Spears or the Octomom.

And after listening to sports marketing and crisis management experts pontificate endlessly over the past week in seemingly every media outlet known to man—and weighing those opinions against our own—we've come to a couple of other conclusions. Namely, Woods' sport category and male-centric endorsement deals (Nike (NKE), Gillette), are in no danger, as long as he returns to the golf course fueled by the competitive fire that has driven him his entire life. If any deals are in jeopardy it is the nonsports contracts (Tag Heuer, American Express (AXP), and Accenture (ACN), which are more closely tied to his image and reputation than to his on-course abilities.

A Los Angeles Times online poll run on Friday asked the question, "Has your opinion of Tiger Woods changed in light of recent events?" Of 2,344 total votes, 63.7% of respondents replied that they had lost respect for Woods, with 36.3% holding the opinion that "no, his private life is none of my business." Likewise, as reported by SportsBusiness Journal, the Davie Brown Index, which assesses celebrity attributes in such categories as aspiration, notice, trendsetter, appeal, influence, trust, and endorsement, found that fewer people "aspire to be like" Woods since his accident was reported the day after Thanksgiving and allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced. Woods' scores in the "aspire" category fell from 77.18 to 63.38, while his "influence" dipped from 76.29 to 74.58 and his "endorsement score" fell from 77.67 to 71.70.

Contract Leverage

While these dips in popularity are relatively small, at least for the moment, any drop in status could potentially give Woods' existing sponsors more leverage in their next round of contract negotiations. Sponsors may also cite contractual morality clauses as a reason to hold him to a smaller contract next time around.

One of the potential biggest losers in the Woods scandal? His Tiger Woods Foundation, the beneficiary of the just-completed Chevron World Challenge, which has benefited more than 10 million youths since its 1996 inception, according to the foundation's Web site. Tiger Woods Foundation grant programs support 100 charities annually, and the Earl D. Woods scholarship fund has handed out more than $2 million in total, in $5,000 increments. Besides the Chevron World Challenge, other events supporting the Tiger Woods Foundation include the Tiger Woods AT&T National golf tournament in Washington, D.C., in July and TigerJam Presented by AT&T (T), a springtime concert event at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.

"Character education" is one of the "three priorities" of Tiger's Action Plan, a character development program designed for youth aged 8 to 17 and promoted by the foundation. One of the great ironies of this program at present is that its existence could be the reason foundation backers cite if they decide to withdraw their support.

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