ESPN's "Outside The Lines" examined Tiger Woods' impact
on golf. PGA Tour player Justin Leonard: "Non-golf
companies are stepping up and saying, 'You know, we can get
a lot of exposure [by sponsoring Woods].' And they all
can't have Tiger. They all want him. But they all can't
have him or afford him. And when that doesn't happen, then
maybe some of that trickles down to me." ESPN's Bob Ley
asked Buick GM Roger Adams, "Have you had an empirical
chance to sit down, do some research, and see exactly all
the money that you have spent so far, what kind of
difference it's made with [Woods] being a spokesperson?"
Adams: "We saw our awareness as the official car of the PGA
Tour go up 50 percent after one tournament [Buick
Invitational in February] in the association [with Woods].
And we've run some promotions where we've seen just a
phenomenal response. We get a quarter of a million people
that will come in on a daily basis to try and participate in
our promotions. ... We do also track the opinion people have
about Buick. And we've seen that go up precipitously since
we've begun this partnership [with Woods]." Ley asked if
the deal with Woods is "paying for itself already." Adams:
"Yes. I think there were some people early on that thought
maybe we'd paid too much. But people now are saying. 'Boy,
you got a bargain'" ("Outside The Lines," ESPN, 8/13).
