The PGA
Tour today announced '15 will be the final year health care provider Humana will title sponsor the Humana Challenge. The Tour is working with Desert Classic Charities and the Clinton Foundation to find a sponsor beginning with the '16 tournament (
PGA Tour). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Michael Smith reports Humana signed on as title sponsor for the tourney in '11, and the Humana Challenge, previously known as the Bob Hope Classic, also had aligned with the Clinton Global Initiative and “became a unique stop on the tour each January.” Humana’s sponsorship not only saved the event, “but former President Bill Clinton attended each year and used his foundation to stage a Health Matters conference.” While Humana will be going away, the tour “doesn’t intend to lose the event.” The PGA Tour said that Clinton’s conference is “expected to remain as part of the golf tournament.” Changes in Humana’s “direct-to-consumer business focus and a change in leadership ... prompted the Louisville, Ky., company to change its marketing plans.” Despite
signing an eight-year deal that was supposed to go through ‘19, Humana “notified the PGA Tour recently that it would exit after the January 2015 tournament, its fourth year on the title.” Sources said that the long-term deal “allowed Humana to exercise an option to exit at its midpoint.” Humana next year also will “end its official marketing partnership” with the PGA Tour -- “rights it has had since 2005 as the tour’s official health benefits provider.” Sources said that “while another company that works in health and wellness would be an ideal fit for the tournament and the Clinton Foundation, the tour won’t be limited to just that category” (
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/29 issue). See Humana's entire sponsorship portfolio
here.
