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How do we mark the passage of time - the rolling, cresting and dissolution of one era onto the shore of eternity, the next one ready to crash in behind it?
In 2024, the answer may seem shallow: the end of a brand partnership between an athlete and an athletic apparel company. But if there's one case where it's the truth, it's this one.
This week, Tiger Woods split up with Nike after 27 years of sponsorship. Those decades and millions of dollars helped both athlete and brand achieve heights of global fame rarely seen. The dissolution of that marriage signals the end of an epoch in golf and the beginning of a new, unfathomably uncertain one. With Woods' latest contract up with Nike as of the close of 2023, and no renewal announced, the inevitability of Monday's announcement ensured it land with a leaden thud.
What Tiger Wood said about parting ways with Nike
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 8, 2024
There will be no more great Tiger Woods ads punctuated by "Just Do It." This likely means Nike's full retreat from the golf space. But there is also a greater message this divorce delivers, no matter how amicable.
In the end, Tiger Woods got too big for Nike. His global celebrity status couldn't be subordinated to that of a corporation - even one of Nike's track record. Tiger Woods the icon came to overshadow Nike the brand. Something had to give.
Of course, he's not the first athlete to become bigger than the company he endorsed. Michael Jordan nearly outgrew Nike, too, but the solution to that tension was the forking off of the Air Jordan/Jumpman sub-brand, whose cultural cachet and commercial strength remains as strong as any other, especially in basketball.
Woods' own 'TW' emblem sold handsomely over the years, too, but never quite overcame the fundamental difference between basketball and golf. Basketball is a team game; golf is for individuals. Latter-day Jordan athletes are happy to be part of his on-court legacy, even if it means putting it above their own individual icon-aspirations.
But golfers are more self-involved. With limited exceptions, great golfers' egos force them to think they could eclipse Woods' practically untouchable records. To wear his logo would be to admit defeat.
That is why the TW emblem did not so much drive a generation of pros to associate themselves with this era's G.O.A.T. as it inspired inferior copycats. Sergio Garcia and Hunter Mahan wore their own monograms in competition; nice players both but not fit to carry Tiger's spikes.
The uncoupling of Tiger Woods and Nike echoes the schism roiling professional golf. Saudi Arabia and their oil billions could hardly have picked a better time to appeal to certain pro golfers' high senses of self-worth and willingness to get out from under the umbrella of an institution like the PGA Tour. All-time sales of Hy Flyers hats probably won't ever do a drop of what TW merch sold in a month.
Nevertheless, LIV tapped into the same dynamic that ended Woods/Nike. The Saudis offered Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm and others the chance to feel bigger than the PGA Tour by becoming too expensive for it to retain a hold on them.
The only difference, of course, is that they're now merely (admittedly very) rich golfers. They're not icons like Tiger Woods is.
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