Wells Fargo isn't so sure. Company spokeswoman Heather Schow told Golf Digest on Oct. 30, "We are still separate companies, and no decisions have been made as to how Wells Fargo and Wachovia will combine their sponsorship activities."
Broader concerns lie in the tour's overall sponsor mix. In 2008, the PGA Tour calendar had six tournaments title-sponsored by automobile manufacturers and 14 tournaments titled by financial-services/insurance companies.
"Fact of the matter is that if somebody comes up and says, 'Look, we can't pay—sue us,' that's not in the best interest of the tour," says Alexander, who foresees some negative pressure on the tour in 2009 but expresses confidence in the tour's ability to withstand it. It's the organization's lesser tours—the Champions and Nationwide tours—where he believes the greatest impact could be felt.
‘Anyone who thinks sports is recession-proof is dreaming’—Neal PilsonThe LPGA Tour faces a more immediate set of challenges. Eight of the organization's events have lost or will lose sponsors after 2009. ADT did not renew its contract for the season-ending event after the 2008 event, and McDonald's, which has backed the LPGA Championship since 1994, will exit that role after 2009. The LPGA, in a strategic and branding initiative, has taken ownership of that tournament and likely will eschew a traditional title sponsor in favor of a small handful of promotional partners (similar to the PGA Tour's Players Championship). Chris Higgs, senior vice president and chief operations officer for the LPGA Tour, says the strategy will pay off for one of the tour's most prestigious championships, but finalizing such a deal might not be easy. One industry insider who has sold LPGA tournament sponsorships says that finding one title sponsor in this economy is hard enough, and "finding three different partners who would add up to what one title spends might be even more difficult."
Safeway has withdrawn from its LPGA event in the Phoenix area, and though Higgs says the tour is "confident" about the event returning, "the terms under which we return are going to be an evolution."
Beyond juggling sponsors, the LPGA is facing the renegotiation of expiring television contracts. The tour's five-year contract with ESPN concludes at the end of 2009, as does its deal with the Golf Channel and a vitally important contract with Korean broadcaster SBS. (SBS also sponsors an LPGA event that is up for renewal after 2009.) Part of a revamping of the LPGA's TV strategy might be to shop a new seven- or eight-event television package. Higgs confirms that the existing TV deals are in renegotiation, but he would not address the package. "Our plan has always been to have revised TV contracts in 2010, and we are working toward that," he says. "As to the package concept," he adds, "that would be premature and not in our interest to start having specific conversations with you about what deals we're trying to strike with different networks."
So what of the players in all this? How might a tightened global golf economy affect their income? Jeremy Elliott is the director of golf at player-representation firm Career Sports & Entertainment. To clients such as Ryuji Imada, Parker McLachlin, Matt Kuchar and Roland Thatcher, Elliott has been offering a little straight talk.
"Its quite simple," says Elliott. "There's going to be less money going into the sport from individual player deals to tournament sponsorships. That's just a fact that we're dealing with, and were going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future."
- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
