Mike Weir Signs New Major Sponsor, Thompson
Mike Weir is a Thompson man now.
As they say, it is all about business. Mike Weir signed a new contract with the Thompson Corporation today to be his title sponsor, ending a 14-year relationship with Bell Canada. While many in Canada are not happy with Mike and feel that he has sold out Bell and by extension Canada, I actually think it was a good move for both Mike and Bell.
Lets face it, Mike isn’t really Canadian anymore anyways. He lives in Utah, has lived there since college which for Mike was more than 15 years ago. His wife isn’t Canadian, and his kids aren’t being raised in Canada. He plays golf on the PGA Tour, an American Association with the majority of his events played in American cities. Heck, Mike probably even has an American passport by now. So this whole notion that Mike sold out Canada is a bunch of bull, Mike is as Canadian as Brett Hull.
As for the deal itself, I think it works for everyone. Bell doesn’t need to spend it’s money trumpeting a player who doesn’t even use it’s product anymore. Mike can sign a much larger deal with an international news conglomerate and trumpet their product and services to the corporate types he plays with in the various pro-ams out there. It really is a win-win for everyone.
The other bonus for Mike is the opportunity to play more games around the world. Thompson is an international company so they will encourage Mike to play more in places like Japan, China, Europe and South America.
So while it is a little bitter sweet to see the 14-year relationship between the Canadian company Bell and Mike come to an end, sometimes it is for the best. As they say, all good things come to an end.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Hey Bruno,
It is Thomson not Thompson. And although Thomson is an international company, it is a Canadian company. The Thomson family lives in Toronto and if you ever visited that fair city, you might have heard the orchestra at the Thomson Centre or visited many other Thomson sponsored cultural events.
Get your facts straight - ah?
TC