Letting The Sun Go Down On Appearance Fees
Thursday, March 3, 2005 at 09:21 PM The New York Post's Phil Mushnick goes where few sports writers have dared, complaining about Tiger's backdoor appearance fee deals while taking on the Ford-Doral, uh, "product" situation:
Money has a way of beating the hell out of
ethics. And the dawn of the Tiger Woods era began to see the sun set on
appearance-fee bans. Running through loopholes has become the new
fitness regimen.
The PGA has thus far responded with a
shrug. And, given that Team Tiger got this ball rolling, a shrug is
likely the best the PGA can offer. Signing huge endorsement deals with
American Express, Buick, Accenture and Disney, Woods became a virtual
lock to appear in PGA tournaments carrying those corporations' titles.
On the other hand, he became a longshot to play in events carrying the
titles of sponsors that rival the corporations he endorses. Put it this
way: That Woods, Buick guy, is playing this week in a Ford event is
downright noteworthy.
In case you aren’t aware, Ford is basically offering appearance fees to 5 key products, err, players this week. Chris Lewis in SI offers insight into other perks Ford is offering, while Ryan Herrington has an interesting piece on the new Doral tournament chairman and everything he and his cohorts are doing to attract prod---players to their events.