Tiger Wins. Ratings Drop.

Filed in archive Golf News on January 29, 2008

CBS is complaining that the ratings for its first golf broadcast of the season - the Buick Invitational - were down nearly 20 percent from last year's broadcast.

On Sunday, tiger woods waltzed to his latest victory by eight shots, winning the Buick for the fourth straight year.



But it wasn't enough to pump up those ratings.

Ya gotta love the television business.

I say that with no small degree of sarcasm because in television, things grow old very quickly. The medium breeds boredom and forgetfulness like rabbits have litters of little bunnies.

The phrase "what have you done for me lately" was coined just for television, I think.

I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it has something to do with too many channels and too much choice (then again, have you watched cable TV lately?). Even Tiger Woods can't hold an audience like he used to.

But perhaps the issue is Tiger himself. They say "America loves an underdog". Tiger is surely no underdog - more like Top Dog and week after week, too.

Could it be that we are growing bored with watching Tiger winning again and again? Do we long for golf coverage on TV so we can watch Tiger hammer the field in the same way we used to long for it? When Tiger was a phenomenon with a golf club?

He still is phenomenal but TV has made us want more. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the audience wants to see that underdog return and give Tiger a licking. If not the audience, then CBS.

It will happen one day, of course. Roger Federer failed to make it to the final of the recent Australian Open. The world number one men's tennis player was beaten in the semifinals. When was the last time that happened? Is Roger beginning to slip from atop his perch after all these years?

How long can anyone remain number one at anything?

This is what television sports executives love. It drives story lines and lures viewers into accepting the idea that the mighty are ready for a fall.

So when Tiger Woods leads by 11 on Sunday and wins by eight shots, TV execs fret that it's too much like watching a re-run of America's Next Top Model. Just plain boring.

But, then again, it's only January as Geoff Shackelford points out.