MetLife Signs Four-Year Deal To Become PGA Tour's Official Life Insurance Company

MetLife has formally announced that it has become an official marketing partner of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. The four-year pact, which runs through '16, gives MetLife the designations of official life insurance company of the two tours and official aerial coverage provider of the PGA Tour (MetLife). In this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, Terry Lefton reports this is the first time MetLife has had an official partnership with the PGA Tour, despite the company's blimps "hovering over PGA Tour events" since '87 through deals with broadcast rights holders. MetLife VP/Global Brand & Marketing Richard Hong said that the "international marketing rights granted under the deal were paramount." Hong: "Extending those rights globally is the reason we did this deal." Lefton notes the insurance company also has an LPGA affiliation, "through which it conducts golf clinics for women" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/29 issue).