After listening to Bloomsberg’s “Business of Sports” podcast, I learned more about the importance of individual athletes to their respective sports. The podcast talked about the “Tiger Effect” that has been and currently is prevalent in professional golf. The tournament in which they were talking about in the podcast received the highest overnight rating for a PGA tour telecast. This is not because the level of play was any higher than it normally is, but because Tiger Woods was playing in the event. This effect can be seen across many sports as well.
This example of the “Tiger effect” also applies to tennis. The ageless wonders, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have a comparable effect in professional tennis. No matter what tournament they play in, viewership will always rise if they are involved. In the world of MMA, we have seen two of the biggest stars move to other sports in order to receive larger compensation. The two former headliners of the sport, Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor, have both pursued other sports, WWE and Boxing respectively. This switch of sports will prove to be a detrimental blow to the MMA viewership. No matter how popular a sport may be, taking the top talent out of competition will always result in a drop in viewership and fan support. The players themselves are a large brand that can be marketed and sold on its own. This is seen through both Connor McGregor and Ronda Rousey’s popularity in both sports they have participated in. They receive high ratings in MMA and in boxing and WWE respectively. This shows that no matter what sport or profession these athletes participate in, there will be a large following behind them.