SociableSport

Hours before Tiger Woods makes his eagerly awaited return to the media spotlight, we have seen a spike in Twitter activity akin to the November peak when press coverage of his private life hit the heights usually reserved for Royalty and Recession. The collective consciousness is naturally drawn to the Woods story, not in the least part due to the sheer volume of eyeball coverage its continued to draw (by this I mean the coverage in front of our eyeballs). 

http://trendistic.com/tiger-woods/_30-days#

Scandalous interest aside, news of the 'no questions to be asked' press conference will be ringing loud in the ears of those stakeholders who are currently hanging on the words soon to be uttered. Golf has both suffered and profiteered in the incremental attention to Woods. For one, right now Golf is a more popular sport than the Vancouver Games. The BBC will be streaming the interview online in what will no doubt be a prominent position; in a twist of irony, today is the round of 16 in the Accenture Matchplay tournament. Accenture, of course, were the first brand to terminate their association with Woods once the scandal had broken and the timing of Woods' announcement will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the tournament organisers and sponsorship managers looking to generate all the right coverage for all the right reasons.

Having said that, Accenture are, again, receiving a disproportionate amount of coverage. Their sponsorship of the tournament may be predicated on a hospitality strategy and yes, this may be a little awkward for those client entertainers who have to continually reply, "No we don't sponsor Tiger any more; anyway, about that Supply Chain Risk Management product...", but for being front-of-mind among those interested in golf, Accenture are in a very good place right now.

So, Ernie Els' comment, "I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday" may be a little short-sighted. If the BBC and SKY News are talking about your tournament, that's good. Well, it's not perfect - given the context - but you have to be positive in these situations. 

It's the PGA Tour who will be holding their breath. If Woods retires, the tour will be left with a Woods-sized-hole that the sport's next top 5 biggest personalities would struggle to fill. If Woods announces a comeback date, it may well be one of the most watched sporting events of this young decade. This is, arguably, a make-or-break situation for golf's largest tour schedule and one of sport's biggest sponsorship properties.

All we can do is wait and see. 

London Irish are a rugby club to watch, though. According to their CEO, the club has ambitions to become the Manchester United of club rugby (without the debt).

Whether achieving that goal, in perspective, will Leave shareholders dispondent or elated, I'm not sure. It depends in large part on the growth of the sport as a whole, which is of course out of the hands of Irish alone.

They're soon to release a new content offering, perhaps in the form of an app. I can't say much more other than that it excited me a bit!

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For this festive season, Tiger Woods' scandalous relationship trauma seems to be driving more search interest than the Greatest Story Ever Told.  

Tiger Woods, Jesus

But stories of infidelity or sacrifice are dwarfed by the search traffic for Christmas itself. What the Spirit of this "Christmas" wave is? I'm not sure. It could be gift ideas, or it could be celebration ideas. Either way, Christmas has certainly arrived... Perhaps Woods could piggy back this with an Oprah Christmas Special? PGA comeback event to be held on December 26th? OK, that's pushing it.

Tiger Woods, Jesus, Christmas