This Week's Newsmakers: ESPN, CBS Set To Score With Tiger Return

THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week’s newsmakers:

WIN: CBS/ESPN -- The Masters broadcasters get great news this week, as TIGER WOODS announces his plan to return to pro golf at Augusta National. The networks will get the first crack at cashing in on Woods' return, which makes this year's edition of The Masters the most anticipated in the event's history. CBS' SEAN MCMANUS predicted Woods' return will be the "biggest media event other than the Obama inauguration in the past 10 or 15 years." McManus surely must be crossing his fingers that Tiger returns in top form, or at least strong enough to remain in contention into Sunday's final round.

Johnson Has Walked A Treacherous Line By Indirectly Criticizing Roger Goodell This Week

LOSE: WOODY JOHNSON -- We cannot fault the Jets Owner for wanting his team to open the new Meadowlands stadium, but his public frustration about the short-lived saga comes across like sour grapes. Johnson walks a treacherous line by indirectly criticizing ROGER GOODELL for using a private coin toss to determine the Giants will play the first regular-season game at the new facility. Considering the Jets had the honor of closing Giants Stadium, Johnson would be better served to take the team’s opening-weekend “MNF” game at home with a simple “Thank you.”

DRAW: VERSUS -- The Comcast-owned network finally comes to an agreement with the satellite TV provider DirecTV, which puts Versus back into nearly 14 million additional U.S. households ahead of the NHL Playoffs and LANCE ARMSTRONG's participation in several cycling races. But despite six months of holding out, the network returns to the same programming packages and location in the channel guide as it was when it was taken down last September. While details were not released, it seems like the lengthy dispute did not do much to improve Versus' position in the overall TV landscape.