“While we would describe Tiger as a distressed product, he’s still a premium brand."

I know a lot of you haven't been able to sleep since the news broke that IMG let Mark Steinberg (and likely Tiger Woods) leave. Well, we mustn't have you fretting over the holiday weekend, which is where Randall Mell comes in with a look at Steiny and Tiger's options.

“I don’t think these two are going to go hungry,” said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, in reference to a new Steinberg/Woods venture.
Swangard said he wasn’t surprised by news of Steinberg’s departure.

“I don’t think it really had anything to do with IMG,” Swangard said. “I suspect it’s just Mark Steinberg thinking he has a better way of doing things.”

A better way to manage Woods even with their new challenges.

“While we would describe Tiger as a distressed product, he’s still a premium brand,” Swangard said. “If you were going to strike out on your own with Tiger Woods, you would be able to do some pretty good things. And being on their own, they’re going to be able to do some things they might not be able to do with IMG, possibly push the envelope as sole proprietors of a business, if they wanted, things IMG might be averse to doing, or things that might conflict with businesses that IMG has.”

Of course, Swangard said the reach of a new Steinberg/Woods business would be linked to Woods' success on the course.

There is that.