Scotland-based firm Standard Life Investments has “agreed to be the Ryder Cup’s initial worldwide partner, making it the first company to acquire rights to Ryder Cups on both sides of the Atlantic,” according to Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Standard Life’s four-year deal “commences this year" in advance of the '14 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland, and includes rights to the '16 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn. Terms of the deal were “not available.” However, sources said that such a global sponsorship was “being shopped for high seven figures annually.” The PGA of America and European Tour “hope to have as many as four worldwide partners" for the '14 Ryder Cup. Standard Life’s partnership will be “rolled into two separate contracts, one with the European Tour and another with the PGA of America." The company “emerged with many of the same hospitality, promotional and on-course rights as Team Europe sponsors in 2014, except that Standard Life will be the only one to call itself a worldwide partner with unique marks in its advertising.” Standard Life will “have category exclusivity" in '14 and '16. Neither the PGA of America nor the European Tour "had this category filled” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/25 issue).
