The Players Championship is putting a new marketing twist on one of the PGA Tour’s biggest events by beaming live television coverage of the entire tournament in Manhattan’s Times Square.
Morgan Stanley, one of The Players Championship’s three “Proud Partner” top-level sponsors, will show live tournament coverage on its 13,000-square-foot video board outside its Times Square headquarters as part of its deal with the PGA Tour.
“This is the first of its kind in having a PGA Tour event broadcast to the masses in Manhattan,” said Jared Rice, executive director of The Players Championship. “Morgan Stanley came to us with the concept and it was a great opportunity to further the prestige of the tournament.”
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Sponsor Morgan Stanley will air live tournament coverage on its Times Square video board.
Photos by: MORGAN STANLEY
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Plans call for Morgan Stanley to show NBC’s entire weekend coverage of the event on its massive Times Square video board. Thursday and Friday coverage from the Golf Channel also will be shown.
The new activation comes after Morgan Stanley last year signed a four-year deal to join PwC and Optum as top-level sponsors of the tournament, which is held at the tour-owned TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. This year’s event is scheduled for May 11-14.
“Proud Partner” sponsorships are seven-figure annual agreements that also provide Morgan Stanley with hospitality, on-course signage and, significantly, a media presence during the tournament’s broadcast. TV advertising during the tournament is limited to “Proud Partner” sponsors.
“In many ways, it is a brand play with an element of cool to it,” said Mandell Crawley, chief marketing officer for Morgan Stanley, of its plan to show the golf coverage in Times Square. “It is an attractive proposition for us. We are leveraging our asset to broadcast one of the PGA Tour’s most valuable tournaments.”
No terms of the company’s deal with the PGA Tour were changed in adding the Times Square activation. The plan did not require signoff by the networks.
Morgan Stanley will use NBC’s national broadcast feed for the weekend coverage, which runs from 2-7 p.m. ET. While Morgan Stanley will run the entire weekend golf coverage on its Times Square LED board, it will substitute its own creative messaging during commercial breaks.
The company has committed only to this year for its Times Square golf activation.
“We will see what type of buzz it creates,” Crawley said, adding that about 500,000 people pass through Times Square daily. “It is the first time we have done live broadcast work.”
