When Your Sport's Popularity Rests Entirely on One Player, It's Probably Not a Good Thing

A week ago Tiger Woods completed what might become the most storied victory in PGA Tour history. Hobbling around with a torn ACL (which takes two years to heal for an NFL running back) and a double stress fracture, Woods won a 19-hole playoff to capture the US Open title over Rocco Mediate.

Just days later, Woods announced that he would undergo season-ending knee surgery. That flushing sound you hear is golf ratings going down the drain. The sport's ratings are entirely tied to the success of the greatest golfer in the world. Everyone else on the tour is merely the supporting cast. It's Tiger's world, and they're just golfing in it.

At this point, we can't help but to ask, how healthy can a sport be when it's popularity is entirely dependent on one player?

Are any other players on the PGA Tour even slightly interesting? With Tiger last weekend, golf was a television ratings giant. Without Tiger, golf would be slightly more relevant than the WNBA. We'd argue that this means the sport itself is simply not interesting to many people. Sports fans will tune in to see greatness at work, but unless something historically amazing might happen, they'll look elsewhere for entertainment.

In fact, you can diagnose the health of almost any sport in a similar manner.

American soccer is in the same boat as the PGA Tour. Nobody paid attention until David Beckham came over. Then again, we bet Major League Soccer's popularity would soar if a team signed Michael Jackson to play forward. It's just the nature of the celebrity culture we live in.

On the other hand, the NFL, far and away the most popular sport in the nation, is at the top of the sports food chain. An inconsequential late-season game between two 4-10 teams draws a greater audience than NBA or MLB Playoffs. Of course, star power always increases ratings, but the game is entertaining enough that fans will tune in to mediocrity in stunning numbers as well.

We love to make fun of NASCAR, but it's a healthy, popular sport, too. It doesn't matter if Earnhardt or Gordon wins. People still watch.

Need another example? How about the Olympics? Later this summer, we'll all tune into the Olympics, despite the fact that in four months none of us will remember any of the athletes' names. Now that's good TV.

Major League Baseball is a little less popular. It doesn't necessarily depend on specific players, but it does rely on specific teams. We're all sick of the Red Sox and Yankees, but there's a reason this rivalry is shoved down our throats: People are interested. Come October, America will watch the playoffs if the Cubs, Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers or Cubs are involved.

If the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays square off in the World Series (Don't laugh. It's more than possible.), we wouldn't be surprised to see the games pre-empted by "Bass Fishing With the Stars." (Thanks, Fox Network!)

Maybe we can catch the Fall Classic on ESPN 12--if they're willing to bump a re-run of the 1997 World Series of Poker.

But take heart, PGA Tour executives. Not all is lost. Be thankful you're not running the NBA, where even talented stars aren't enough to drive ratings. Tim Duncan is one of the greatest players in basketball history. But when his Spurs are in the NBA Finals, it's a ratings disaster. It's not enough to be great in the NBA. You also have to be interesting.

And when all seems lost, at least you're not running the NHL, where nobody finds the game, the teams or the stars even the slightest bit interesting.