Tiger Woods Can’t Use His Own Name For His Own Restaurant – Hoax Has Internet In A Tizzy
Tiger Woods was said to be in a strange dilemma. He couldn’t lend his own name to a restaurant that’s about to open soon.
It’s confirmed that Tiger Woods had been mulling the idea of opening a restaurant for quite some time. However, the internet went in a tizzy when it was learnt the restaurant won’t bear the name of the golfer. Apparently, Tiger Woods needed an explicit permission to use his own name as a brand.
The name “Tiger Woods” was claimed to be owned by the Nike Corporation. Nike was said to own the exclusive rights to the Woods’ full name and even the star golfer himself couldn’t use it without securing an official approval from the company. The painful “truth” was learnt when the firm in charge of development of the restaurant, attempted to confirm if the restaurant would bear the name “Tiger Woods.”
On March 6, Nicholas Mastroianni II – the developer of Woods’ South Florida restaurant was said to have attempted to tentatively name the restaurant as “Tiger Woods,” but wasn’t allowed to do so. So bad was the condition that even a mere Press Release that might contain the name Tiger Woods, was said to need a permission from Nike.
Fortunately, Tiger Woods’ manager Mark Steinberg released a statement on Wednesday contradicting a recent report that claimed Nike Golf has the rights to the former world No. 1’s name,
“I can’t imagine how this could have been communicated this way. It is wholly inaccurate and categorically false,” Steinberg said. “Tiger owns his own name and always had. He can use his name in any form he chooses. Nike would confirm that if asked.”
Within a short span of a few hours, Nike’s spokesperson reiterated Steinberg’s words, acknowledging the manager,
“Nike does not own the name ‘Tiger Woods.’ We can confirm that Mark Steinberg’s comments are accurate.”
Tiger Woods is all set to open a huge and rather elite restaurant later this spring, near his home in Jupiter, FL. Woods is apparently spending $1,000 per square foot in the construction of the restaurant. Simple calculation indicates that this 8000 sq. ft. restaurant will total over $8 million in the construction costs alone.
The rumor spread like fire primarily because, Tiger Woods recently signed a deal with Nike that won’t expire until the end of his career. Fortunately, with rumors being dispelled, it looks like the 14-time major tournament winner won’t have any problems with the name of his restaurant after all.
[Image Credit | Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters]
