Aussie Taxpayers Paying Part of Tiger's Appearance Fee

Tiger Woods is going to play the Australian Masters tournament in November, his first tournament in Australia since the 1998 Presidents Cup. And a rare thing these days for Woods: An addition to his playing schedule. Woods has, for the past five or six years, been removing events from his schedule, not adding them.

Behold the power of the multimillion dollar appearance fee.

Woods is getting a reported AUD $3 million (at current exchange rates, approximately US $2 million) just to show up at the tournament in Melbourne, Nov. 12-15. And half of that, according to reports, will be paid for by Australian taxpayers.

That's because the Victoria state government is chipping in half of Woods' appearance fee. Is that a good use of taxpayer dollars? Victorian Premier John Brumby claims that Woods' appearance in the Australian Masters will contribute AUD $19 million to the Melbourne economy.

The Victoria state government commissioned the accounting firm of Ernst & Young to do an economic impact study, and the dollar figure cited above is from that study. The figure is based on the study's conclusion that between 10,000 and 20,000 people will travel to Melbourne from other Australian states and from oversees to watch Woods play.

However, Victoria opposition leader Ted Baillieu disputed the report's estimates. Speaking to AFP, Baillieu said:

"At a time like this, when people are losing their jobs, it's hard to believe that the Victorian public would think that this is a good idea. When there is concern about high levels of executive salary, the government's spending 1.5 million dollars on the highest paid sportsman in the world to come here for a tournament which is not an international tournament."

But Stuart Appleby, Australian by way of Orlando, doesn't seem to have a problem with this "government bailout," telling the Associated Press:

"It will be great for the game and bring out a lot of people who haven't seen him before - in person, not on a video game. There's a lot of people hurting in Australia, and they might look negatively that one guy is paid $3 million just to turn up. The common man won't understand the business model because the government is paying for it. They might not see the money he brings in."

What do you think? Vote in the poll and add your comments.

Updates: See Woods finishes off Australian Masters victory and also a photo gallery of Woods at the 2009 Aussie Masters.