More Videos
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Boise State Stock Plan: An Early Success
- Dollar Signs Seen In Young "Buck" Jennings
- Iverson Wasn't A Popular "Answer"
- My Top 10 Marketing Ideas For Winless Nets
- Airlines Add 'Super Bowl' Tax
- Chicken Wing Finder Makes Debut
- Michelle Wie Wins, Now What?
- TV Series Inks Unique Deal For Fight
- The Breakdown: LeBron To Change To No. 6?
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Existing-Home Sales Jump To Highest Level in 2-1/2 Years
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Start-Up Proves Everything Really Is Better With Bacon
- TV Retailer QVC Joins 'Black Friday' Frenzy
- Buffett's Wealth and Fame Hasn't Helped 'Warren' As a Name
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- China Asks Its Banks to Slow Down
- Rally Could 'Have Some Legs in 2010': Market Strategist
- Investors May Skew Housing Reality
- Buffett's Wealth and Fame Hasn't Helped 'Warren' As a Name
- Are Crazy Retail Deals Good for Business?
- Expect a 'Square Root-Shaped' Recovery: Chief Investor
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- HP to Feed on Enterprise Spending Next Year: Tech Analyst
- Busch: Markets Smell a Country Rat
- Schork Oil Outlook: Mission Impossible For The Bears?
- Bear, Lehman Execs Weren't Wiped Out by Crisis: Study
- How Real Estate Investors Skew Housing's Reality
- Treasury Auction of $44 Billion Gets Good Response
- Even Buffett's Huge Fame Can't Help the Name 'Warren'
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- JPMorgan's Dimon Could Succeed Geithner: Report
- Maria Blog: Are Crazy Retail Deals Good for Business?
- Suze Orman’s 'A Healthier, Wealthier You'
- Latest Holiday Drinks: The Madoff...and the TARPatini
Sports Biz
Text Size 
 |
After big-time exposure from an event like the U.S. Open, I normally give a sponsor update for the winner (yeah, I know Tiger was carrying a Gatorade to accept the trophy).
But even though Rocco Mediate lost out to Tiger Woods on the 91st-hole of an epic battle, the story behind one of his sponsors is among the most intriguing I've ever seen.
As I mentioned earlier today, Rocco Mediate's main sponsor Callaway Golf[ELY
Loading...
()
] which has been hovering around 52-week lows. But it can't get much more awkward than the company that sponsors Rocco's right chest--WCI [WCI
Loading...
()
].
WCI, the troubled homebuilder, sold the community where Mediate lives--Tuscany Reserve--to foreign investors for $65 million last month. The development is in Naples, Fla., among the hardest hit of all U.S. cities in terms of the mortgage fallout.
Tuscany Reserve was originally supposed to sell some homes for $2 million to $5 million, but homes can now be found for less than $1 million. One residence in the community--2,349 square feet--is listed on the company's Web site for $908,850. The Naples Daily News last said that WCI originally had permits for 530 homes, but only built 30. The golf course is co-designed by Greg Norman and Pete Dye.
Here's Rocco's wife Linda in a brochure for the community: "The Tuscany Reserve lifestyle is so perfect for the whole family that there seemed to be no adjustment period. Rocco is Italian, we live in a place that is reminiscent of the Italian countryside and our children are happy. We feel like we've always lived here."
So despite all the exposure, Mediate's advertisement for WCI is kind of useless. What's he going to say? WCI lost $85.1 million in the first quarter of 2008 and more than $500 million for all of 2007.
This past Friday, WCI--whose largest shareholder is Carl Icahn--formed a board to evaluate restructuring proposals. Shares of the homebuilder were at nearly $24 a share in Feb. 2007. It has been trading at less than $2 a share for more than a month.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes