“Now where did that million dollar bill role to?”

This is just the latest in Tiger’s vast, money making empire. And he’s just one of the athletes at the top of the pay and endorsement list. A-Rod, anyone? Young ‘uns, you may find this hard to believe, but there was a time when just getting paid a living wage (if at all) for playing sports was a strange thing. Strange, but true. I wonder what the payers in the genteel sport of poker are making in endorsements. They sure are festooned with patches for the on-line poker sites when they play on TV.

Anyone want to endorse Uncle Dave for something? Anything? I could use a new car.

Woods to have his own drink in first licensing deal

Tiger Woods will have his own brand of sports drink next year under an endorsement deal announced Tuesday with Gatorade that marks a couple of firsts for the world’s No. 1 golfer — his first U.S. deal with a beverage company and his first licensing agreement.

Gatorade said it will introduce “Gatorade Tiger” in March, with more products to follow. Woods even picked out the flavors himself, with the drink available in a cherry blend, citrus blend and grape.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Golfweek magazine reported last month it was for five years and could pay Woods as much as $100 million, moving him closer to the $1 billion mark in career endorsements.



  1. Mark Derail says:

    Well, he does donate a significant portion of his profits to all sorts of causes, especially educating America’s poor kids. Right?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Woods#Charity_and_youth_projects

    http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/529-tiger-woods

    The Clincher – he doesn’t have to ! But he does ! Not like ex-Superman Reeves that started donating *only* when he had the problem himself, every dime before that was spent on a lavish lifestyle.

    Stop being jealous Uncle Dave, Tiger has an outstanding ability and personality. He’s caught in a whirlwind of corporations that want to milk him, has nothing to do with Tiger personally.

    He was close by to me a few weeks ago, and the Royal Montreal Golf Club for the President’s Club (Ile Bizard, Quebec).

    He actually made a detour to get the best Poutine in the West Island, at “La Roulotte”, signed autographs, and signed Page 1 with a picture of him on a Montreal newspaper, so the owner can display on the wall.

    // Mmm Poutine…La Roulotte is my neighbor at my office 🙂
    // Love The Tiger

  2. Richard says:

    I can’t blame Tiger for getting those deals. As long people are willing to pay this money, why would he refuse it.

    But I do think that these things are getting more and more extreme. It gives me an uncomfortable feeling seeing a small group of people getting more and more and more while the gap between poor and rich seems to be getting bigger.

    But don’t blame Tiger. It’s only normal for him to accept these things. Hey, if somebody wants to give me a billion….

  3. T.J. says:

    It’s all about the Benjamins.. ch-ching..

  4. I admire what he is doing with his money regarding education. That said do these endorsements work on this audience? Have you ever bought a Tiger Woods anything?

  5. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #3 – well, no, obviously, it isn’t.

    =====

    I get tired of hearing how athletes and movie stars are overpaid. No one goes to see a pro sports event because the team owner is a smashing fellow with a dynamite wit. They go to see the athletes just like moviegoers often go on the the strength of starpower.

    These people get paid what the market will bear. And what they offer isn’t health care… its a luxury. Let it be expensive. Who cares?

    I’m not jealous that Tom Cruise takes about 20 million (though he only nets about 2 mil) per flick. However, I sure do get angry when a CEO runs a company aground, lays off thousands, then jumps out the back door wearing his or her 200 million dollar golden parachute…

    Tiger makes a lot of cash… but unlike some of these corporate asshats, he’s actually good at what he does and does what he says he’ll do for the money… and after all that, sets a good example to other rich fucks by being humble and generous, as all those who drew the lucky card in the wealth lottery should be.

  6. RBG says:

    He still has to face up to the embarrassment that he makes his money by hitting a little ball with a stick. That said, where do I sign up?

    RBG

  7. Uncle Dave says:

    #5: Where did you get the idea Cruise only nets $2 mil out of 20? His agent is probably getting that much (although 15% is more usual for an agent). But he and other top stars like Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and others often also get a percentage of the gross which can net someone like Cruise $100 mil on one of his films.

  8. David says:

    Who cares! Really. It’s a free country. If some company wants to endorse the guy and have him wear their logo…who gives a rip. It’s just business. You don’t have to buy their products.

    As for the matter, is this TOO much money? There’s no such thing. I don’t even care about the ‘high’ salaries in baseball and the like. This is one of those things where even a Democrat like me completely trusts the free market (since we’re talking an entirely ‘optional’ product). If baseball players get paid $100 million a year, and the ticket prices have to go up to $300 a piece to pay for it, I’ll just stop going. It’s a supply/demand issue. They’ll charge (and pay) for whatever they can get away with. You’re not required to go to baseball games.

    And as for golf and Tiger, if he gives away his money to charity, that’s nice…but if not, it’s his money. He’s certainly not required to donate any of it. How many people on THIS blog give away significant % of their money to charity?

  9. Lex says:

    #4 – the biggest endorsement Tiger Woods makes is his white wife. This has caused so much pain and resentment in young black men. Their idol has shown the world that white is right. It is an endorsement that 99% of black men will never be able to achieve.

    Tiger Woods is a great golf player but he’s just one of us when it comes to sexual desire. He has succumbed and sold out young black America who are desperate for a black role model.

  10. RBG says:

    8. David. “How many people on THIS blog give away significant % of their money to charity?”

    DU Trivia: J does.

  11. bobbo says:

    9–Its equally balanced by Heidi Klum’s marriage to Seal?

    And so, racial harmony is the rule until one side takes the others women and their jobs==then we get posts like yours.

    I thought the whole point about Tiger was that he was mixed race?

    No one is free who looks at the world through a racial lens.

  12. BillM says:

    Uncle Dave, take Tiger’s lead and come out with your own drink. You can bottle that kool-aid that you and most of the posters on DU drink.

  13. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #7 – Tom Cruise isn’t a guy with an agent… Tom Cruise is an enterprise. Tom Cruise is an employer. He has a staff, and infrastructure, taxes, and all the other trappings of a business.

    When he’s a producer, he gets a far more lucrative deal, but he’s also an investor taking risk. When he’s a hired actor, he might take his rate (about 20mil) or a cut of the gross (net points are sucker points) or a combination. When he did Magnolia, he worked for scale.

    As big as the box can be on many of those blockbuster films, 100mil is sort of unrealistic typically… but only a fraction is in his wallet… much of it is in his next picture.

  14. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #13 – Hmmm… After reading what I wrote I realize some might think that I think that Tom Cruise does not have an agent… Rest assured, I am certain that he does 🙂

    (I’m certain his agent lives in a pyramid shaped house and knows the truth about the aliens and the volcano too)

  15. bill says:

    He gets the $$$$ because he’s the real deal! And he plays great golf!
    Lucky Guy!

  16. Tiger Woods says:

    Uncle Dave, take acting lessons. Hollywood is looking for a guy like you to play the part of unordinary ordinary guy.

  17. Joshua says:

    #9…Lex…if you had half a brain, you might know that Woods is of mixed race….in fact several races. He could marry a woman of at least 4 different races/ethnicities without *betraying*(your words) black youth or his heratige. He, like Obama is a product of the modern world, where races mix so easily….except for those like you who still think it’s 1930.

    I actually don’t care for Woods personally, though I have a lot of respect for his fantastic talent. He played a tornument in Phoenix back about 7 or 8 years ago and my Dad was on the sponser team….my Dad took me to the first round and introduced me to Woods…he was nice enough, but about half an hour later he started bitching at all the peon’s who worked for the golf club and threatened to have one of them fired for not bringing him the correct drink and just as obnoxious and prima donna as you could get. I never forgot that, and have disliked him since.

  18. OvenMaster says:

    #9: that’s got to be just about one of the stupidest posts I have ever read on the Internet.

    If his marriage to a white woman has truly “caused so much pain and resentment in young black men”, please tell us the URLs where we can read this… because this is the first I’ve ever heard of it.

    You are, however, quite right. He’s just one of us when it comes to sexual desire. And that means he is colorblind. Unless he publicly admits that he had the goal of seeking only a white woman as his wife, I think it’s a good thing that he did not restrict himself to black women, and proved he was open-minded in at least that area.

  19. Glenn E says:

    What? No Tiger Woods fragrance yet?! Must be slipping. I’m not faulting T.W. for making these deals. I fault the commercial industry for aways signing up the highest profile celebs, to promote their wares. No matter how stupid the endorsement may be. Is anyone really going to be drinking T.W. beverage, thinking that it will make they a great golfer or sport star too? Maybe Tiger should have a children’s cough medicine named after him. Because that product line has nothing going for it now that the FDA has ratted them out.

  20. TIHZ_HO says:

    #4 “Have you ever bought a Tiger Woods anything?”

    Not here – People who buy from endorsements are rather shallow IMHO, insecure of their own self esteem needing that reassurance they are better than what they are. Its associative marketing – he’s cool therefore I am cool too.

    Cheers

  21. Hi…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin..holy Thursday


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