Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tiger Woods to come to Oz

Tiger Woods will play in the Australian Open this year in Victoria.  He will be paid $4.5 million for his 3 day effort half of which will be subscribed by the Australian taxpaper.  This is his appearance fee and ignores possible winnings. The event will be held at Kingston Heath and I am already waitlisted for tickets in November.  If I am to be consistent with my judgement on the use of public funds to promote sporting events - I recently attacked Victoria's $47 million payment to a certain dwarfish Grand Prix operator - I should condemn the $2.25 million the public is coffing up for Woods.  I do condemn it - though weakly.  The reasons for my weaker condemnation of the Woods subsidy are that (i) $2-25 million is a lot less than $47 million and (ii) it might indeed be a good deal for Victoria - though the promised $19 million benefit that the Labor Party suggests will eventuate is out there in fairyland.  The benefit will be less than that.  Woods is absolutely numero uno in the world of modern golf and this is the major participant sport on earth.  He is not some racing-car-driving bogan but a gentleman who plays excellent golf.

I assume the PGA are coffing up the other half of the appearance fee. That's a big ask. I hope they do not get seriously into the red on this one.

Woods is a freak. He is the greatest golfer of his generation and, as I have suggested before on this blog, a wonderful person.  A guy with soul and feeling who can play golf with demonaic precision.  I can hardly wait!

Victoria is again seen as the sporting centre of Australia with NSW a distant second. Indeed Woods will not play in the Australian Open held in NSW shortly after the Masters - his appearance at the Masters will drain resources and crowds from the now much less interesting NSW event.  NSW do have Brian Eno to lead the 3 week music festival in Sydney and this should help the no-hopers running that state secure a few Mardi Gras votes. Prejudiced? No, not me.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon Harry, take a broader view. Don't you think there are a lot more welfare improving activities that could be carried out with those funds? Conservation, health, education, research and development (although I must admit, baing a fan of Austrian economics and public choice theory a la Tullock and Buchanan means that I am sceptical that the government has the desire, the capability and the knowledge to actually improve welfare with those funds anyway, but that is another story).

Mark said...

I didn't bite a week ago when you described all motor-racing fans as morons. Now you go easy on the Tiger Woods visit partly because he's a gentleman and not a bogan. My gob is thoroughly smacked!

andrewt said...

Golf the "major participant sport on earth" - come on. Football players must exceed golfers by at least an order of magnitude. And what about basketball? With its immense popularity in the Subcontinent cricket might have more participants too. Similarly table tennis in China. Does golf even make the top 10?

hc said...

Give me a break fellas

I admit an element of hypocrisy though if you read carefully I did condemn the subsidy - even if weakly.

I'll condemn it then enjoy watching him. That is consistent given that the subsidy is a sunk cost.

Anonymous said...

Given Victoria's record they wil llose money on this.

Brian Eno is one talented musician and producer

Anonymous said...

Good one Harry. Subsidies for the working class are evil and encourage dependency - middle class subsidies are a neccessity for a refined superior lifestyle.

hc said...

I assume FXH that you are well aware of the extreme pain you have inflicted by, again, attacking this scribe where he is weakest - on issues of consistency and hypocrisy.

Anonymous said...

Brian Eno hasn't been glam for a long time (though he certainly was with Roxy Music - there is some great live youtube of him with Roxy Music)

Anonymous said...

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UODv3aCVxg

Anonymous said...

I would however be happy to see Vic taxpayers $ spent on bringing Eno to Melbouren - or even at a pinch Bendigo

North Voice said...

who is Brian Eno? Who cares?

Anonymous said...

Like I always say Harry...please give me back my $2!

hc said...

Public funds/population gives:


$2,250,000/22,000,000 = 10.2 cents < $2.


.....I suppose on this basis I could ask for a million or so myself. Who would miss it?