Wish this was about our sport

[jalapeno]

"Imagine a company with a star employee who improves the product to such a degree that sales and profits explode. The company justly rewards that innovative employee, but other workers also receive hefty pay increases as the good times continue.

Then, the economy takes a turn for the worse, sales drop, and the company is stuck with higher salaries.


In the sports world, the PGA Tour is that company -- and Tiger Woods is the star employee.

The game's No. 1 player has almost by himself helped put hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in his peers' pockets.

Take one tournament, for example, the popular AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. In 1999, three years after Woods turned pro, the purse was $2.8 million, with $504,000 awarded to the winner. This year, it was $5 million, with $900,000 going to the winner.

That increase is a direct result of Woods' popularity. In 2001, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem negotiated a new contract with the various television networks that kicked in this year and runs through 2006. The deal was for a reported $850 million, a nearly 40 percent increase. That means purses for the period would go up by a similar amount. "

I took this from MSN this afternoon. The article goes on and talks about how the PGA has gotten stuck paying higher salaries even during a downturn economy.

I wonder if we will ever be 1/8th that size......

[beerisgood]

Thats an interesting thought, It would definetly be a double edge sword. More people=more sponsorship money, more people also = increased risk to the environment like farmington.

[jalapeno]

your right, thats why courses specifically set up for the sport would probably have to be the norm, not the exception. the only thing is that like golf, it would be boring to do the same courses several times a year. Part of the fun is doing new stuff!

[TEX]

Originally posted by jalapeno
I wonder if we will ever be 1/8th that size......

My guess is, "no". But, 1/8th "that size" would be really, REALLY fawkin' huge.

TEX

[jalapeno]

I was thinking that as far as barriers to entry, our sport has a lot more to overcome. To play golf, you buy clubs, a bag, some silly pants and shirt and pay your green fees. Maybe you have a couple G's invested.

To play our sport, either competing or recreationally (I think people who go to golf tournaments to spectate probably play the game) it is usually going to take at least 5 g's for a cheap trail beast and it goes up from there.

That alone may always relegate us to a niche sport, like base jumping. Fun to watch but not something the average person can or wants to do. If it is in a movie, cool. But are you going to drive 10 hours to the middle of the desert for it?