Ginn Looking To Sell Naming Rights To Its Four Golf Tourneys
By Jon Show, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Ginn Looking To Sell Naming Rights
To Its Four Golf Tournaments |
Ginn Sports & Entertainment is looking to take its name off the four pro golf tournaments it operates and sponsors. The company is actively shopping naming rights to its two LPGA events, one event on the PGA Tour’s Fall Series, and a Champions Tour event. The sports division of the Florida-based high-end real estate developer is hoping to offset costs by selling presenting or title sponsorships worth $3-4M per event. Ginn Senior VP/Golf Operations Jerry Thompson said the company has been open to selling the top-level sponsorships since the outset of the relationships. Informed sources said the sales process has intensified in recent months with the crash in the housing market.
TOURNAMENTS UNDER CONTRACT: Unlike a typical title sponsor, Ginn is able to sell the names because it also operates the tournaments under contracts with the tours. Ginn plans to continue to operate the events through the length of the agreements and beyond, said Thompson, and the events would stay at Ginn-owned courses. The Ginn Sur Mer Classic is signed through 2010 with the PGA Tour, the Ginn Tribute through 2010 with the LPGA and the Ginn Championship is inked through 2010 with the Champions Tour. The Ginn Open is on the LPGA schedule through '09. Ginn ideally would like to sell the title sponsorships and keep its own name in a presenting role, but the company is willing to drop such a requirement knowing that presenting sponsorships fail to reference large numbers of media impressions. Thompson said Ginn plans to continue underwriting the network television broadcasts of its two LPGA events at a cost of around $1.2-1.4M each. The LPGA’s '08 TV schedule still is not finalized, but last year the Ginn tournaments were two of only four non-major events shown on network TV.
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